Handcuffed
by MissKluck
Summary: Ever since Sasuke had returned to the village after the war, Sakura had been avoiding him, feeling both bitter and unsure about his return. However, what will they do when they end up handcuffed together by the order of the Hokage? Will they finally talk to each other? And what will happen as they stay handcuffed together? Sasusaku previous one-shot, now intended to be a multi chap
1. Chapter 1: Handcuffed together

So, this is my very first fanfiction, inspired by a prompt post on tumblr. As it is my first fic, I hope that you won't go too hard on me, and tell me what you think, okay? :)

**Handcuffed**

As soon as Sakura Haruno entered her shihou, the fifth hokage's office, she knew something was going on. Perhaps it was the fact that her mentor sat behind the desk grinning like a Cheshire cat or the fact that Naruto stood off to the side, holding a pair of handcuffs with an amused expression on his face. She looked at her mentor suspiciously, ignoring the familiar "Hello Sakura-Chan!" from Naruto, and was about to ask about the reason for her summoning when she felt a familiar chakra enter the office. She automatically tensed, said person following her lead, standing tensely at her side, right in front of the fifth hokage's desk. Sakura didn't even cast a glance at the person at her side, she knew it had to be him, especially when she for a moment could feel his onyx eyes on her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Naruto shrugging at them apologetically, although a glimpse of amusement could be seen in the depths of his cerulean eyes.

After another moment of silence, Tsunade waved her hand at Naruto, who immediately jumped into action, appearing behind his two best friends and cuffed their hands together before they really got a chance to react.

"Ehh?! What's the meaning of this, Tsunade-shihou?" Sakura exclaimed loudly, looking between the handcuffs and her mentor.

Sasuke too seemed to be caught off guard, a scowl on his face as he glared at Naruto and Tsunade.

Tsunade spoke up, mirth clearly heard in her voice: "Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, seeing as you both have gone out of your way to avoid each other ever since the war, you two will, from this moment on and until further notice, be handcuffed together. Since one of you is on probation and also seemingly has underdeveloped social skills, this will be an A ranked mission, lasting as long as I deem it necessarily." At the last statement, the glare of the last Uchiha intensified even more, leading Naruto to slightly hide behind Tsunade.

"What? But what about my hospital duties then?! There are still a lot of injured people after the war as it only ended a month ago! Surely you can't expect me to abandon them when you, of all people, know the best how many patients there are here!" Sakura exclaimed, glaring daggers at the handcuffs, Naruto and Tsunade all at the same time.

It was true, just a mere month ago the fight with Madara had finally ended, the ending result being the alliance's victory. Obito had temporarily knocked out Madara, also giving Sakura and Minato enough time to get the kyuubi into Naruto again. Sakura still couldn't believe they had made it since she at some point had to manually pump Naruto's heart. Right after that, a bloodied, but miraculously healed Sasuke had somehow managed to get over to them and after a long battle, they had finally won. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke had all collapsed from chakra exhaustion then, all of them having overexerted their body and the boys still tired after nearly dying.

Waking up in a medical tent, Sakura had found that she was the second of them to awaken, Naruto already being up due to the kyuubi's powers once again residing in his body. Knowing her duty as a medical-nin, Sakura had got up again despite the protests of both Naruto and her body and gone in search of Tsunade. Together they, along with Shizune, had once again taken over the control of the medical attention given to all the wounded shinobis. Even though Tsunade had protested slightly against Sakura going into healing again so soon after slight chakra exhaustion, Sakura had refused to listen and seeing as there were a lot of seriously ninjas all over the battlefield, Tsunade had for once given in to Sakura's stubbornness.

The next days was spent healing patients, overexerting herself, living on chakra pills and once again fainting from chakra exhaustion after a particularly tricky operation. She had seen Naruto some times and talked to him, but she tried to avoid him as Sasuke was almost always nearby and she still didn't really know how she felt about all that had happened. Sure she was grateful that Sasuke had come into the battle and fought side by side with them when they needed him most. But still, what right had he to just waltz in there, declare that he wanted to fight for Konoha because it was precious and say that he would be hokage? The last time she had seen him he had been intended upon destroying Konoha and almost killed her and the rest of team 7.

What promises did they have that he wouldn't change his mind again? That he wouldn't turn on them again and try to kill them? Also, overall, Sakura really didn't know what she thought and felt about Sasuke anymore, what she should think and feel about him. She knew that the love she once held for this boy still burned within her, but at the same time, this boy was so very different from the one she used to know. So she ended up avoiding them all together, traveling with Ino and some medical-nins when they after some days returned to Konoha. When they returned and Naruto had tried to reform team 7, Sakura used all possible excuses not to see them. She would shut herself away from them, either in her lab or her apartment or at the hospital, often taking two shifts than having to deal with Sasuke.

After a while, Tsunade had started suspecting things, as Sakura had been more worn-out than usual, even with the many patients, she had been more tired than necessarily. So two days ago, Sakura had ended up telling Tsunade some of the things that troubled her. That she was still bitter from all that had happened, both at Sasuke and at herself. That she didn't know what to do anymore and would rather avoid having to face Sasuke for at least some more weeks. Tsunade had reminded her that Sasuke actually had seemed pretty sane when he had turned up at the battle field and that he still hadn't done anything despite them being about in Konoha for more that two weeks. "Still," Tsunade had added as she was about to leave, "I can always kick his butt if he tries anything." This had at least made the pink haired girl smile.

"Yes, well I might have considered that had it not been for the constant complaints about not getting to be together with team 7 again of a certain hokage in training," Tsunade shot a dirty look at Naruto who just smiled innocently. "Also, I can't have my ninja, especially former teammates who might end up being reinstated as teammates again, avoid each other."

"But shihou-"

"That is an order, both of you!" Tsunade said briskly. "The sooner you two talk to each other and sort out this whole thing between yourself the sooner the handcuffs will be removed, is that understood?"

"Hn," Sasuke said for the first time since he entered the office, now having his head turned away from Sakura to glare at the wall to his left. Had he been able to he would surely had stuffed both hands in his pockets.

"Don't 'hn' me, Uchiha! Those handcuffs are specially built to hinder all attempts of removing them from anyone other than me so don't even think about trying anything." Sasuke's glare at the wall intensified, but he said nothing. Sakura too seemed to realize it was a lost fight, hanging her head in defeat. Tsunade's tone seemed to change as she continued, taking on an almost motherly tone: "Remember what I said the other day, Sakura." This made her student gaze doubtfully up at her. "All of it," Tsunade said, winking and smirking. "Now shoo, off you go, I have paperwork that needs to be sorted out and patients in need of a doctor. Bring them back when they're talking again Naruto." With that Naruto pushed his two friends out of Tsunade's office and closed the door.

"So, who wants ramen?" He got two glares in return.

"Just what is the deal going on and complaining to shishou? Thanks to you I'm now tied down and can't help out the people who need me at the hospital," Sakura said sourly, sending Naruto a dirty look.

"Well we almost didn't see you, and Teme didn't seem to keen on going and finding you anyways, even though I know he wanted," at this Naruto nudged Sasuke in the ribs, receiving a nasty glare in return, "As he just goes around all mopey all day. Besides Sakura-chan, I went and checked at the hospital and they said that they were starting to get back to normal already. And then I couldn't stand the thought of you avoiding us anymore!" Naruto dragged out the last word, blinking innocently at Sakura. Sasuke did cast another glance at Sakura, having caught up on the facts that had proved his theory about Sakura avoiding him. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, as he wasn't entirely sure what he thought about that. Sakura would actually go to such lengths to avoid him? But why?

Who was he trying to fool, he knew why she was avoiding him, because he had tried to kill them and to her, he was probably still unstable. He had seemed pretty frantic the last time they had fought, hadn't he? In truth he couldn't remember much, his thoughts had been too clouded by his brothers death and the truth about the Uchiha clan massacre. He had just been so obsessed with avenging his clan on Konoha that he really hadn't cared who he killed in the process.

Later, when he had talked to the resurrected Itachi and the kages, he had realized how wrong he once again had been. But it wasn't until he awoke from the injuries after the war, seeing Sakura disappear out of the tent and Naruto lying by his side that he realized how much he probably would regret it if he had killed them. They had been a team after all, and even though he wanted to deny it, he had found that they were precious people to him. The talks he had had with Naruto too as they recuperated; only further proved to him that he would regret killing them.

After a lot of persuasion and speeches from Naruto about comrades and such, as well as an outgoing sparing match where they only stopped because they once more had exhausted themselves, Sasuke finally decided to tell Naruto everything about the Uchiha clan massacre. He had at first been both surprised and angry when he found that Naruto already knew, but then he was also was grateful, both since he didn't have to go much into detail and also because there was people around him who knew but still didn't judge him. Hopefully, Sakura wouldn't judge him either.

Therefore, he had actually wanted to talk to Sakura, to tell her about everything. And also to apologize, even though he didn't want to admit it at first, he knew it was important, both to her and to himself. Seeing as Sakura was one of the leading medics, he knew he would probably have to wait a while to get her alone. However, when they had returned to the village and Sakura still hadn't been much seen, Sasuke started to suspect something, especially when other medics had been seen throughout the village, away from the hospital, and Sakura hadn't. He had soon grown irritated with her avoiding him, and said to himself that that was the only reason he was irritated with her, and not because she didn't give him the same attention as she used to.

Sakura sighed, a small smile on her face as she said: "Yeah, well, I haven't ex-"

"And besides, now that your right hand is cuffed up, you can't hit so hard either!" Naruto interrupted, realizing only too late what he had said. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, doubting me, are we?" Sakura asked, a scary glint appearing in her eyes.

"No, no, no! Of course not Sakura-chan! It's just that-"

"Then let me show you the strength of my left hand as well!" Before Naruto could defend himself, Sakura had already sent him flying with a punch to the jaw. Although it wasn't as powerful as with her right, it still sent him some distance away and made him crash into a wall. "Hmph!" Sakura just strolled past the bruised Naruto, dragging Sasuke with her as she did so.

"Hn, dobe," Sasuke smirked as he passed, feeling a bit of nostalgic over this whole ordeal. Sakura's eyes widened a fraction, the nostalgia making her forget about her anger as memories from a now so distant past came bubbling to the surface. However she just continued out of the hokage tower, repressing her memories and instead worrying about the handcuffs. As she realized she was slightly dragging Sasuke after her she grimaced, slowing her pace a bit down and letting him catch up to her. It was already pretty late in the afternoon, Sakura had just finished dinner when Tsunade had summoned her and they had actually used some time in her office, despite the feeling that they hadn't.

A sudden thought hit her; where were they going to sleep that night? _How_ were they going to sleep that night? Sakura stopped up a bit after the hokage tower, first now daring to cast a conflicted glance at Sasuke. He too stopped, looking at her, but saying nothing. 'Just the usual him,' Sakura thought with a wry smile, making him raise an eyebrow. "Where are we going to sleep tonight, Sasuke-kun?" The '-kun' was added merely out of habit, though it seemed Sasuke caught on to it.

"Hn, my place," he replied. "We have larger beds," with that he turned around and started walking towards the Uchiha compound. Sakura followed after, still in deep conflict. She realized that she didn't really know how to act around him anymore and neither did she know what she wanted and didn't want to talk about with him. His usually short responses weren't really helping either. Maybe this could force him into talking to her? Surely he didn't want to be handcuffed to her, probably even less than she wanted, she was, after all, annoying. The wry smile stayed on her lips as the two walked silently towards the Uchiha compound that early evening. Because of this Sasuke found himself casting small glances at his silent team mate, wondering about the wry smile and her quietness. Luckily they didn't see any immediate acquaintances so they didn't have to explain the situation to anyone.

After fifteen minutes of walking they reached the compound and Sasuke locked them in. Sakura couldn't remember ever being there before, though that wasn't really strange seeing as she had no reason to ever be there, well until now. Her twelve-year-old self might have died of happiness for this situation, but now she was just uncomfortable and unsure of everything, especially Sasuke. The entire house was completely quiet, only adding to Sakura's uneasiness. Sasuke too didn't know what to do, as he had never brought anyone home with him before, usually just staying at Narutos or Ichirakus when they were hanging out.

The Uchiha compound had needed to be rebuilt after the war, just like everything else in Konoha, but Sasuke had found that he had actually grown accustomed to it very quickly as it was almost identical to before. It also helped him get rid of many ugly memories and thoughts, although it still was a constant reminder of what had happened, the fact that it had been rebuilt as it was showed Konoha's loyalty to his clan. He actually found it harder and harder to be mad with Konoha as it and it's inhabitants wasn't the actual reason to his clans death, but rather the clan itself, along with the council and Danzo.

Wanting to indulge herself with something as quickly as possible, Sakura asked: "Do you have any books here, Sasuke-kun?" They were standing in the middle of the living room, both having zoned out for a few minutes, deep in thought.

"Aa," was the only reply, the onyx haired boy starting down a hallway with Sakura right behind him. She sighed quietly, wondering if Sasuke in fact would say anything else than 'hn' and 'aa'. Reaching a door a bit down the hallway, Sasuke quickly glanced at her before opening the door and letting them both in. Inside it seemed like a typical office room, a desk with a chair and a lot of bookcases stuffed with books. There wasn't any sort of accessories or unnecessarily stuff, but right then Sakura could care less about the room's interior. She went straight past Sasuke, up to the nearest bookcase and started scanning the book titles.

As they're handcuffed together, Sasuke too ends up staring at the different books, though not really paying them any mind, just briefly scanning over them so he'll have something to occupy his mind with.

"Ah, I didn't know this still existed! I thought they were all destroyed!" Sakura suddenly exclaims, startling Sasuke in her joy as she used her handcuffed hand to snatch the book out of the shelf. Rapidly opening the book, the eager girl started reading at once, now totally forgetting the person she was handcuffed to. Said person still stared at her, a little put off by the surprise and also finding himself unable to look away from the pink haired girl now scanning a medicine book. This is the way he's used to see her; over eager and excited, too involved with her feelings. And he once again found that he had missed her company and her usual behaviour, not the ignoring attitude she has been giving him lately.

A small smirk plays on his lips as he watches her all caught up in her book. After a while, he catches himself in what he is doing; just staring at her and reminiscing, and irritated he turns to the bookshelf again in search of something else than her to occupy his mind. He too found himself a book and slightly amused guided a completely transfixed Sakura out of the study, into the hallway again and to the living room to find a couch to sit on. Sakura herself walked as if in a daze, all attention on the book in her hands, skimming through the pages at record speed. She didn't seem to notice when they sat down in the living room either, just sitting down as if on autopilot, her nose completely buried in the book. Sasuke slightly shakes his head at her, still in disbelief, but in the end opens his own book and let it suck him in.

Some hours later, Sakura finished her book, yawning as she realized it must be pretty late by then. She suddenly remembered that she was still handcuffed to Sasuke, but had forgot all about it in her eagerness for the book she'd found. Pink lightly tainted her cheeks as she quickly glanced over at Sasuke, wondering what he must have thought. Catching herself in that, she turns her head away, biting her lip as all the uncertainty and bitterness returns. Looking at a watch on the wall, Sakura realizes just how late it is and also how tired she is. Before the meeting with Tsunade she had just finished a really long shift, and hadn't really had time to rest after that.

Yawning again Sakura closed the book, looking out a window nearby at the complete darkness outside. The sound of a book closing in turn snaps Sasuke out of his reading, looking over at the companion at his side. The dark rings he had noticed earlier under Sakura's eyes seemed to have intensified, showing off how tired the girl probably was. He frowned, would she really continue to work herself to exhaustion instead of facing him? "We should go to bed," was his simple statement after having caught a glimpse of the clock on his wall. He too was tired, though mostly because of the recurring nightmares he had been having the last months.

Walking towards his parent's former bedroom as his was too small; Sasuke suddenly realized that he had no idea what to do if he got another nightmare that night. He now felt a sudden fear of going to bed as he was used to deal with his nightmares alone and not in the presence of others, especially not her. Would he end up screaming like he had done previously? Would Sakura laugh at his face and tell him he deserved it for everything he had done? Or maybe just ignore him and go back to bed? Of all these, he wasn't sure which one he liked the least. This was only Sakura, why should he be afraid of her? But Sasuke was afraid, afraid of rejection.

Right by his parent's bedroom was a large bathroom in which he leaded them both into. Neither Sakura nor Sasuke seemed too confident as they entered the bathroom, now refusing to look at each other, realizing all the awkward situations that could happen. Luckily neither of them had to go to the toilet and both figured that they just as might sleep in their clothes as they probably wouldn't get them off anyway. Their sandals was left in the entry so all they really had to do in the bathroom was get ready for bed, which meant that just two minutes afterwards they walked out again. Walking to the room of Sasuke's parents, both were both eager and anxious to get to bed; eager because they were tired but anxious because they had to share the same bed and be so close together when they didn't even talk properly to each other. And since they were handcuffed together they couldn't lay with the back against the other wither without one or both loosing the feeling in their arms. They was way out of eithers comfort zone, which was probably why they refused to look at each other as they entered the bedroom.

As expected from the most prestigious clan in all of Konoha, the bedroom was sumptuous, yet in a certain style that reminded Sakura of Sasuke. There was a large, king-sized bed in the middle of the room, the Uchiha crest adoring the otherwise dark blue bed spread. Two large wardrobes stood just opposite the bed, a desk and a chair under a window just beside the wardrobes. A light on the right side of the bed was turned on, so Sasuke turned off the light in the roof and closed the door behind them. Both stood there for a moment, just staring at the bed they were going to share, before Sasuke walked towards the bed, Sakura slightly stumbling behind him due to fatigue. Standing beside the bed, Sasuke nudged his head for Sakura to get in first, said girl doing so with the raven-haired boy coming in after her. Again they miraculously managed to avoid any complications, now lying side by side in the large bed under the covers.

Sakura then turned slightly away from Sasuke, only muttering a soft: "Night Sasuke-kun," before she fell asleep.

"Good night, Sakura," Sasuke replied silently as he switched off the light and tried to fall asleep as well, not having much trouble with that seeing as he was as tired as she was.

In the middle of the night, Sakura awoke with a start, palms sweaty and heart beating fast. She had had another dream about the meeting after the kage summit, only this time she had actually killed Sasuke. Dreams like that had hunted her ever since before the war, but she would usually forget most of it by the time she woke up. Therefore Sakura wasn't entirely sure why she had awoken, as the only thing that she could remember, was Sasuke's bloody body and a pulling on her wrist, as if something was there. As she was sitting up in the bed, feeling disoriented and tired, running her left hand through her hair, Sakura realized two things; one, she wasn't alone in the bed, wherever it was, and two, there was something around her wrist, pulling painfully at it.

Sakura, now completely awake and alert, was about to hit whatever it was in the bed when a whimper, followed by soft, yet desperate mumbling, stopped her. Remembering the previous day's happenings, she also remembered who it was in the bed beside her. The anger and fear that had blossomed up in her was replaced with worry and uncertainty. Why was Sasuke, the great last Uchiha, lying in the bed beside her, whimpering? She quickly concluded that he was dreaming, seeing as it was, in fact, the middle of the night. Then came the question of what he was dreaming of that would cause him such pain.

And yet again, the answer was obvious: the Uchiha clan massacre. Sakura guessed that even though it was many years ago and Itachi was killed, Sasuke was still traumatized. However, as uneasily she sat there in the silent night, listening to the whimpers and muttering without knowing what to do, she picked up on what was actually being muttered. She recognized not only Itachi's and his parents names, but also Madara's, Danzo's and the elders of Konoha's names, along with her own name and Naruto's. Why would he be dreaming of them? And why the elders?

She didn't have much time to ponder about this as Sasuke seemed to fall even deeper into his dream, once again starting to trash and turn, quickly going into a frenzy. As they were still handcuffed together, Sakura grew afraid that he might end up throwing her into the wall or something similar. Sakura reasoned that even though she didn't particularly want to deal with an awake Sasuke at the moment, it was better for both of them if she awakened him as they most likely wouldn't get much sleep otherwise.

Reluctantly taking his hand in her own, Sakura softly whispered: "Sasuke-kun, wake up, it's just a dream. Ne, Sasuke-kun." He seemed to stir slightly, but for once seemed so deep in his dream that he didn't wake up. He just tossed around more, pulling on the handcuff so it dug even deeper into her skin than it already had. Frowning lightly she now took hold of his shoulders, trying to shake him gently. "Sasuke-kun, wake up! Ne Sasuke-kun!"

This seemed to do the trick as he shoot up in the bed, slightly knocking her over as he sat there, panting and sweating, eyes a bleeding red. He was now completely alert of his surroundings, knowing that somebody else was there, probably out to get him, and he was about to jump on said person. He halted, however, as he recognized the wary and slightly worried voice of his former teammate.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, are you.. alright…?" Sakura asked hesitantly, worry clearly on her face His eyes widened over this familiar phrase, eyes slowly reverting back to onyx as he sat there, taking in her statement and reaction. So, she wouldn't laugh at him, tell him he deserved it or yell at him because her loss of sleep? She was worried about him despite all they had been through, all he had done? A wry smile lightly graced his features at the nostalgia of it all. He watched as the girl warily sat up in the bed, eyes now never leaving his face. He vaguely realized that the light on the bedside table had been alighted. When had that happened? Looking back at Sakura he realized that he still hadn't answered her, and she was now looking away, a crooked smile on her beautiful face. "I know you won't say anything and probably want me to pry either, seeing as I'm so annoying, so let's just go back to sleep, ne?" She was starting to lie down again, trying to turn as much away from him as possible when he caught her handcuffed wrist and pulled her up again.

She flinched as this had driven the handcuff even deeper into her skin, almost drawing blood. Sasuke noticed this and looked down at the hand in his hands, frowning as he saw the red marks from the handcuff. He realized that that was probably what had awakened her in the first place. Without thinking about it, he placed the handcuff a little higher on her wrist and started lightly massaging the red area.

"S-Sasuke-kun, what are you doing?" Sakura watched astonished on what Sasuke was doing.

"Hn," he grunted, refusing to meet her eyes and just focused on the wrist instead.

"You know I can just heal it on my own," Sakura quietly mumbled, not wanting to be of even greater annoyance than she already was.

"I know," was the only reply. Sakura looked at Sasuke again, trying to catch him gaze to find some kind of explanation, but he still refused to look at anything else than her wrist. So she ended up just sitting there and watching him work on her wrist for some minutes, not sure what to say or how to act. Sasuke sat pondering over what and how to tell Sakura about his past, absentmindedly massaging her wrist. He was a man of few words, everybody knew that, and he didn't like to talk much unless he had to. He would much rather be talked to, observe or just read about things instead of talking about them. He suddenly got an idea.

"Come," he simply said, going out of the bed with her hand still in his, pulling her up with him.

"Eh, Sasuke-kun? Where are we going?" Sakura asked. She really wanted to ignore the boy all together; still not sure of what she should think about his return and lack of apology to her, but the handcuff didn't give her opportunity to do so. And besides, she had been pretty much avoiding him so it wasn't that weird that she didn't know what to think because she hadn't really given him an opportunity to explain himself, that is, if he wanted to do that. Sakura wasn't that surprised when she received no answer for her question, but just had to follow him through his house. They walked for some minutes, neither saying anything, and Sasuke had let go of her hand as soon as she had caught up to him.

After about five minutes of walking, where they had gone down to the basement and through some rooms, they came into something akin to an archive room.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura shot a quick, questioning glance at the boy beside her.

"Hn, this is one of the archives of the history of the Uchiha clan. Most of it was saved because it was stored underground," he replied, going over to a shelf nearby and scanning it over. He pulled out a large folder and gave it to Sakura. She stared confused and a bit doubtingly at him, looking between him and the folder. Sighing, he explained: "The truth about the Uchiha clan massacre. It is information collected by several people in a high position, including the third hokage himself, Danzo and the elder council. Just read it," he huffed, turning slightly away. Still not sure what to think about Sasuke and his actions, Sakura opened the folder, holding it with the handcuffed hand.

The next ten minutes were spent in silence, Sasuke pretending to casually look over some other files, even though he was actually watching her while she quickly scanned through the file, eyes growing wider at the information. As she neared the end, Sasuke spoke up: "Now both you and Naruto know everything that took me years to find out. When we met right after the kage summit, Madara had just told me about it, though twisting it to try and manipulate me," he growled out the last sentence. "And I know that that still doesn't excuse the fact that I tried to kill you, but I still want to ask for your forgiveness, even though I probably won't get it." He mumbled, staring shamefully away, both over what he had done and because humiliated his pride when saying this.

Sakura drew a quick breath, finally understanding what he had been through and that he was forcing himself to seek out her forgiveness, humiliating himself. "Do-does Naruto know?" She asked, voice a bit shaky.

"Madara as Tobi told him," Sasuke answered stoically.

"I see…" Sakura's mind raced with all this new information. Finally she got to know the entire explanation, and she didn't know what she thought anymore. She knew that she still loved Sasuke, despite avoiding him due to the past; he had always had a special place in her heart, no matter how much she could try to deny it. And to think how Sasuke had been mislead and manipulated most of his life, only to realize after he had killed his brother the actual truth about it all. On top of it all, she and Naruto had been chasing after him, at first trying to bring him back, and then she had tried to kill him. After the dream she'd just had, the guilt gnawed in her stomach. Closing the file, she muttered: "I'm sorry, I-" She bit her lip, unsure how to say it and also uncertain about herself, like she almost always was in his presence. She was afraid of rejection.

Sasuke, however, misinterpreted it to mean something else, sighing wryly as he replied: "Hn, you don't have to apologize, I understand if you won't forgive me." There was only so much one could forgive before one had enough, right? Even Sakura had her limits.

"Ah, no, I didn't mean it like that, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed, catching on to how it must have sounded to him. Sasuke's head snapped up to look at her, looking confused at her. She lowered her head, not comfortable with his penetrating gaze and focusing on his hand instead, the one who hang limply in a handcuff just beside the folder she held. "I'm sorry, for all that has happened, because you don't deserve it, no one does. And I'm also sorry for being a hindrance by trying to-to kill you," Sakura muttered softly, shaking her head ever so slightly. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, not expecting this answer. She wanted forgiveness from him? He guessed that with all that had happened he hadn't realized he had already forgiven her long ago.

"Hey, let's make a deal, I forgive you and you forgive me, okay?" Sakura said, breaking the silence that had once again overtaken the two of them. She was finally looking at him, a small, sad smile on her face as she concluded he probably didn't want to forgive her.

Sasuke blinked. "What?"

"Look Sasuke-kun, I never really held it against you as I had already tried to kill you. But seeing as we both want forgiveness from one another, why don't we just forgive each other for the sake of being forgiven?"

Sasuke was speechless. She didn't hold it against him? Trading forgiveness? It was all too easy, and too weird. Shouldn't he have to beg for forgiveness and hope that she one day would comply? Not that he would ever beg, but that was beside the point. And also, did forgiveness really work that way? Without realizing it, a small smirk started playing at his lips as he shook his head over the weird situation. "I don't really think forgiveness is supposed to work like that, Sakura," he finally said, letting her name roll off his tongue. "But if you really mean it, then you've got a deal," the small smirk was still playing on his lips.

This, in turn, made Sakura's smile widen, it now being truer than before. "So, you really have come back to stay with us and not blow the city up?" She half asked, half muttered, not sure if she was actually addressing him or just talking to herself.

"Aa," he answered, knowing that the trust would probably take some time to re-establish, but that it would all be worth it in the end. Neither now sure what to say, they ended up just standing there, both lost in their own thoughts. That is until Sakura yawned, tiredness creeping up on her again, and she remembered that it was still, in fact, the middle of the night.

"We should probably go to bed again," she said, giving the folder back to him. He nodded, putting the folder back in the bookshelf. On their way back to bedroom, Sakura found herself muttering: "I'm sorry for avoiding you." He stopped, looking at her, unsure of what to say, as he'd probably avoid himself too. "I just didn't know how to act, what to say or just what to think of it all really. It was all so confusing and really, it all just seemed so weird, you finally being back and all. Just this morning I still doubted you, although I didn't want to, it all just seemed too good to be true. Like a genjutsu or something. And I-I just couldn't do it, I didn't want to believe that you were still after the city, but at the same time, after everything that had happened, I just couldn't accept it because I was afraid of getting hurt again." At this point, Sakura had started crying, being frustrated with everything that had happened and herself for crying and being weak in front of Sasuke yet again.

"I know that I'm ranting, and I'm sorry, both for that and for doubting you," she sniffled. "I guess I'm just annoying as you say I am, ne Sasuke-kun?" She smiled up at him through her tears, still sniffling a little.

Sasuke was once again speechless. Why was she apologizing? She had had every right to doubt him because of what he had done and because she hadn't known the reasons behind it. If anyone should apologize it was probably him, not her.

"Hn, you don't have to apologize, it's not your fault for doubting," Sasuke replied uneasily. "I'm sorry for making you doubt me," he muttered, looking away. "And thank you." Sakura's smile once again widened and acting on instinct, she took a hold of his handcuffed hand and halfway hugged him with her other, leaning her head into his chest.

"Hn, annoying," Sasuke muttered, smirking but still returning her hug.

Standing there in the half dark hallway, hugging the warm body of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura felt the sleepiness crawl up on her for the second time that night. Even though she wanted to fight it, she had slept badly the last week and also overworked herself pretty bad, it all resulting in her being pretty fatigued. It was also the first time in a long while that she felt really safe, let alone safe in someone else's arms, so it ended up proving even harder for her to focus on not giving into the tiredness she felt. So even though she in her mind screamed at her that she couldn't fall asleep in Sasuke's arms after they'd just made everything up with each other, her body took the control and she passed out in his arms from tiredness and slight fatigue, murmuring a soft "sorry" as she did so.

It might be weird, but Sasuke found himself actually not that surprised over Sakura falling asleep in his arms. If the dark circles and tired look in her eyes had told him anything, it was that Sakura Haruno had not slept much the last night. And to his slight amazement, he found that he really didn't mind much, actually he silently appreciated it, as this was solid proof that Sakura did trust him, even after everything. Shaking his head slightly as an amused smirk played on his lips, he picked her up as gently as he could, also minding the handcuffs, and carried her off to the bedroom, murmuring a soft "annoying" as he went.


	2. Chapter 2: Awkwardness and teasing

Heh, it turns out that this won't be a one-shot after all (obviously). Thank you guys so much for all your positive feedback and favorites and story alerts! I really appreciate it! This is getting way longer than I intended, though stories then to do that. I have to warn you though since I've just started school again after a break, the updates will probably be slower both because of school work and because of other stories that I'm working on. I also forgot to mention this in the previous chapter, but I do not own Naruto, I only own the idea and this fanfic. Please tell me what you think of this chapter, okay?

**Awkwardness and teasing**

As Sakura Haruno slowly started to wake up, keeping her eyes closed from the light, she had realized that she didn't remember going back to the bed the night before. And yet, there she was in the bed, covered in warmth and with an extreme feeling of comfort. The last thing she remembered was that she had felt sleepy as she stood hugging Sasuke after their talk… Wait, sleepy in Sasuke's arm? Oh no! She then remembered that the darkness had taken over, and she thought she remembered muttering a low "sorry" before she succumbed to the darkness. That in turn could only mean one thing: Sakura Haruno had fallen asleep in the arms of Sasuke Uchiha! And just as they had started to patch things up too!

She wanted to scream, feeling very frustrated with herself, when she realized a second thing that morning; there was something warm besides the duvet/comforter that weirdly felt like arms…? Afraid of what she might find, yet needing to know what it was, Sakura peeked one eye open only to quickly close it again. Sasuke's face had been the first thing she saw, and not only in the same bed, but really close to her. Since they were handcuffed together still, it wasn't quite the shock of seeing him there that had startled her, but more the closeness of his face. Peeking the eye open again, she discovered that yes, Sasuke lay mere inches away from her, having a strong hold of her body while she herself was curled up to him. Since when had that happened? Oh, she was so dead if he awoke to find her in a position like that with him.

A blush covered her cheeks as she tried to move, but she quickly found that the hold was too strong to just slip out of, meaning that she might awaken him in the process. Why, oh why had they even been handcuffed together? Almost certain that she would die of embarrassment; Sakura remembered a third thing that made it seem like doom was already upon her. Today was the day when her period started and by the slight wet feeling down there; she knew that it had already begun. Ugh, how in the world could she have forgotten about her period?! The answer was obvious though: she had been too shocked about the whole handcuffed thing, as well as the truth about the Uchiha clan massacre, to even think about what date it was.

Wanting to smack herself over her own stupidity, cheeks burning redder than ever, she wondered how she was even going to survive that morning, let alone how their newly rekindled friendship was going to survive. Too lost in her own thoughts to notice the shift of her surroundings, she hadn't realized that she had been staring unfocused at Sasuke's face for the last couple of minutes. Neither had she noticed that there were now two onyx pools staring questiongly at her, wondering why his teammates looked like she was ready to disappear from the world. Then he noted their proximity, and as he too lightly blushed, cursing at himself for even doing so, as Uchiha's did not blush, he figured that it was the intimate position they were in that made his teammate almost die from embarrassment. He smirked at the fact that he still had such an influence on her. It was nostalgic, really, and also weirdly reassuring.

Sensing that someone was staring at her, Sakura got out of her daze only to find a pair of onyx orgs intently watching her. She blushed even more under his gaze, quickly looking away at his questioning stare. She moved away from him, this time relieved to find his grip loose and she tried to put as much distance as she could between them without the handcuff hurting them.

"Sasuke-kun, I, um, I need to take a shower," she muttered, embarrassed, looking anywhere but at him.

Sasuke continued to look intently at her, wondering just what she was getting at, but she refused to meet his gaze. "What?" he quietly questioned. Even though he had heard what she said, he wanted her to reaffirm it; maybe she would realize what she had just said.

"I said that I need to take a shower," she replied a little louder, still looking away from him.

"Hn, and why can't you do it after we've spoken to the hokage? We've done as she wanted us to and talked, now she has to release us." Sasuke reasoned, not getting why she would want to make things more awkward than they already were.

"Yes, but I really need to take a shower," there was something she was hiding, he was sure of it. "A-and besides, Tsunade-shishou said 'as long as I deem it necessarily' so there is a chance that she isn't going to let us out so quickly."

"Hn, why shouldn't she? We've sorted everything out, haven't we? Just take your stupid shower later." Sakura was beating around the bush, he just knew it. Why would she want to take a shower in front of him anyways? Annoying.

"Yes, I guess, but I really need to take that shower!" Her voice was rising now. It was clear that whatever it was, she was not comfortable talking about it and was thus starting to get irritated. Sasuke would not give in so easily however. Why would he want to be handcuffed to someone showering? The whole idea was weirdly unsettling as he found that some parts of him actually wasn't so much against a nude Sakura in a shower as he would have thought. Now he too was starting to get irritated.

"Hn, why would I want to watch someone showering anyways? Just do it in your own freaking house or something," he snorted. "You certainly managed to walk around covered in dirt during the war. Tch, annoying," the last part was muttered under his breath, but Sakura still hear it.

Sakura actually looked at him now, glaring but it was completely ruined as she was blushing furiously. "Well if you want your entire bed covered in blood then fine by me! I won't shower then!" Sasuke's eyes widened, memories from the previous, bloody nightmare returning, him holding a cold, bloodied, _dead_ Sakura, with images of his dead parents haunting in the background. The pained look to flash across his features made Sakura instantly regret her outbreak and wordings. "Oh, I'm sorry Sasuke-kun I didn't mean to-! Look, I just really want to shower because I got my period and I'll just get blood all over your, um, place and yeah. I'm sorry. I promise I'll wash the sheets later." She hung her head, not sure what to say anymore without just messing up the situation even further.

"Annoying," Sasuke muttered, glaring at their hands on the sheets that was mere inched apart, still held close by the handcuffs. "Let's just get you in the shower already."

Sakura nodded, but then remembered that she didn't have any clean clothes with her. At least she had some pads in her ninja pouch, but she had no clothes with her since they had come straight to the Uchiha district from Tsunade's office. Sighing, knowing that this was going to be a long morning, Sakura meekly asked: "Anno, Sasuke-kun, you don't happen to have some spare clothes for me, do you? We just came right here yesterday and I don't usually carry clothes in a ninja pouch, not that there'd be space enough for that anyways," she quietly mumbled the last part to herself.

Seeing Sakura all embarrassed on his bed, a blush still covering her cheeks as she intently stared down at her lap, he couldn't help but smirk a little. "Aa," he grunted, getting out of the bed. He remembered that even though most of the Uchiha district had been ruined, they also had supplies and clothes and such in the basements and cellars under the house so they would probably find something there. Now that he thought about it, he too needed to change, as his clothes was still drenched in sweat from the night before.

They silently made their way downstairs again to the basement just beside the archive room. There they found a lot of clothes from long ago, all covered with the Uchiha crest. It was easy enough to pic out the bottom part of the outfits, but then came the problem with the handcuffs. How were they supposed to change upper clothes with them still on? In the end Sakura found herself a tube top in black with fishnet material on the stomach and a single strap over the left shoulder, connected in the front. Sasuke on the other hand went with something similar to the black V-neck tank top he had used earlier, after his fight with Deidara. He figured that it'd work for the moment together with the ninja pants and a haori that he'd found.

Walking back upstairs again after finding some underwear, both slightly turning away as they did so, Sasuke lead Sakura to a large bathroom just besides his parents bedroom. It was large and luxurious, just like the rest of the house, comfy towels hanging between a large bathtub on one side and a large shower between the other, even though there was a shower in the bathtub too.

Placing the clothes on a small commode to the left of the sink, Sakura remembered: "We should perhaps have a scissor, seeing as we can't exactly get our tops off of us with the handcuffs being here and all." Pulling out a drawer on the commode, Sasuke presented several scissors of different sizes. "Ah, thanks Sasuke-kun," Sakura smiled, although shyly, not really wanting to have to both undress and shower in front of him.

"Aa," was the only reply as he turned around, giving her as much privacy as he could with the handcuffs. Taking that as a hint to get started, Sakura sighed to herself once again, picked up a scissor and started to cut open her top. It wasn't as hard as she had thought it might be, but she still tried to do as much as possible with her left as her right was linked to Sasuke's left and using that hand could cause some embarrassing moments. Now just standing in her chest bindings, she started to remove her ninja pouch, skirt and ninja shorts with bindings. Standing in nothing but her underwear, Sakura was blushing furiously, both because her clothes was soaked in blood, but also because she stood in her underwear in the same room as her long time crush.

Sakura figured that she should at least get the shower running before she removed the last of her clothes. Opting to not say anything, being too embarrassed anyways, Sakura moved closer to the bathtub with a large curtain that could separate them for the time being. Sasuke, feeling the gently nudge of the handcuff, was about to turn around, mostly out of habit than anything, but stopped as an almost undressed Sakura came into his peripheral vision. He refused the sudden urge to turn around and look at her, getting irritated with himself for ever considering such things, and quickly turned back around again, refusing to acknowledge the small blush that was creeping up from his neck.

Luckily, it was just a couple of more hours before he'd be free from this weird mission. Then he could be alone with himself and figure out why the heck he was suddenly having such weird thoughts and where they came from. It was probably the lack of sleep, together with the recurring nightmares and the talk with Sakura that was now toying with his brain. Yeah, that was totally it, but still, it was really annoying. The sound of the shower running followed by a gentle nudge on the handcuff that brought him closer to the bathtub and the slight feeling of a bathtub curtain brushing against his hand informed him that Sakura had finally gotten into the shower. Reaching out, he picked up some towels from another cupboard nearby, placing them closer to the shower for Sakura to find them.

Standing in the shower, one hand just inside the curtain with Sasuke's hand on the other side, Sakura awkwardly washed herself. She had cut open her chest bindings, letting them just lay in the bathtub for now along with her bloodied underwear. The entire time she was very aware of the person standing on just the other side of the curtain, praying silently that she wouldn't mess up and slip and fall or something that would make it all even more awkward. Still, the water running over her body was a feeling she had been missing for the past days, so she involuntarily sighed as she stood there, feeling her muscles ease up and unstiffen.

Remembering that this wasn't the time to take long showers, Sakura sighed yet again, about to ask for a towel when she spotted two on the edge of the tub. Silently thanking Sasuke she turned off the water, quickly snagged a towel and covered herself with it, though this time she unintentionally pulled him closer to her with the handcuff so his hand was now hidden in the curtain. It was only for a moment though, but it forced him to turn around slightly so that he was halfway watching her when she removed the curtain and stepped out. Both immediately blushed at this, though it was clearly more visible at the rosettes cheeks as she shyly turned away from his gaze. He too turned away to give her back her privacy and also to scowl at himself in the mirror over his reactions to all this.

Quickly drying the lower parts of her body, trying to do it in time so there wouldn't be too much blood on the towel, Sakura retrieved the panties she'd found and added a pad to them as she put them on. That now being out of the way, she took more time drying her upper part, that also being because if she did it too quickly she was afraid she would accidentally pull him towards her again too. She did help some with her right hand, making Sasuke's hand float in the air between them, but for the most part she used her left hand, although it was a bit weird for her. Retrieving a roll of bandages from her ninja pouch, she started binding her breasts again, although it was definitely more awkward since she had to use both hands, and thus Sasuke's hand accidentally brushed her stomach in the process. Said boy stiffened upon the contact, wondering what in the sweet name of tomatoes the girl could be doing.

"Aah! I-I'm sorry Sasuke-kun," Sakura stuttered embarrassed, cheeks as rosy as ever. "I didn't intend to do that! I-It's just that I can't really bind my chest without the use of both hands and…" She trailed off, not really knowing what to say and tried to hurry up and finish the chest bindings without looking at the boy. Had she looked though, she would probably have noticed the redness that was now creeping up to his ears from his neck. Done with the chest bindings, she took the hatlerneck top from atop the commode, pulling over her head with only the left hand, now being very conscious as to no use her right. She was a little uncomfortable with the top consisting halfway of fishnet material, but it would have to do for the time being. Pulling on the white biker shorts she had found, she fastened her ninja pouch around her waist as well, now finally being fully dressed again.

"Um, I'm done now Sasuke-kun," she said, covering her head with the towel to both dry her hair and hide the still visible blush on her face.

"Hn, finally," Sasuke grunted, his back still facing her. He then started to undress himself and Sakura, upon seeing this from under the towel, quickly turned away from him, face flaming up once more. She furiously dried her hair, trying to focus on anything else than the fact that Uchiha Sasuke now was changing right behind her. Sakura failed though unable to focus on anything else as it was extremely quiet and damp in the bathroom after her shower, and she could feel small, gentle nudges on her handcuffed hand every now and then. Why did they have to end up in a situation like this anyways? That stupid Tsunade and her ways to humiliate her. Also, this probably wouldn't have happened if Naruto had kept his mouth shut. She knew at least two people she was going to yell at after the meeting today. Speaking of meetings, what was the time?

Actually managing to forget about the still changing Uchiha for a moment, Sakura rummaged through her ninja pouch in search of a watch. She found her watch deeply buried in the pouch, left there from her shift the day before. She was shocked to discover that it was in fact almost 2 pm in the afternoon. Just how long had they been asleep, she wondered, though she knew that she had needed the sleep, and judging by Sasuke not awakening before her, he had too. "Ne, Sasuke-kun, we should probably get going soon as it is almost two and since I'm not helping out at the hospital, Tsunade-shishou might be busy there as well. We should probably get to her before she gets too much sake."

"Tch, alright, let's go then," Sasuke replied, having changed and now holding his dirty clothes.

Sakura turned around at this, also gathering her dirty and bloodied clothes., though not daring to stare at him yet. "But, shouldn't I wash the sheet for you first? It'll leave a nasty stain if it is left for too long and-"

"Don't care, let's just get out of these handcuffs," he cut her off shortly, turning towards the door and walking out of the bathroom with her in tow. He threw his clothes in a corner where a small basket was, motioning for her to do the same. Her clothes were bloodied after all and walking through the village with them would definitely cause suspicion.

'Is he really this opposed to be stuck with me?' Sakura found herself thinking. Maybe it was best for everyone if they just got out of the handcuffs and forgot this ever happened. It had been one embarrassing mission that was for sure. Though Sakura too found that she wanted out of these handcuffs as soon as possible. She was afraid of what else might happen if they continued to stay handcuffed. And what would people say if they found out? A sudden thought struck Sakura as they made their way through the Uchiha compound: had Naruto told anyone? Wanting to smack herself over the dumb question, she answered herself. Of course he had. He was Naruto Uzumaki after all, a bit blabbermouth, always wanting to tell everyone everything, especially when it came to humiliate Sasuke.

Vowing that she would definitely punch Naruto to a pulp if he had revealed something like this to the others, Sakura continued to follow Sasuke to the hokage tower, walking a little behind him. As they were about to walk out of the gate of the Uchiha compound, Sasuke slowed down a bit to let Sakura fall into step with him. Staring a bit uncertain over at Sasuke, he replied to her silent question: "Walking like this is better as people won't immediately notice the handcuffs since they are in between us. If one of us is behind or in front the other, the handcuffs will be easier to spot." Sakura only nodded in reply, looking away from him again as she wasn't really sure what to reply with.

As the day before, the walk to the hokage tower was quiet, Sakura still being slightly flustered from changing and showering in front of her crush while Sasuke was pondering what to do with his weird thoughts. Should he just let them be, forget about them? Surely they would disappear if he paid them no mind, right? Still, a small part of him told him this wasn't the case. Then what was it then? He never was that good with emotions anyway, at least not thoughts and emotions like these. Again opting to sort it all out when he was alone after the meeting with the hokage, Sasuke instead looked around him, once again taking in all the changes that had happened to Konoha since he had last been there. The village had been destroyed and rebuilt and though a lot was the same as it used to be, there was also a lot that was different, a lot that had changed. Not only that but the people in this village had also changed due to the different experiences this village had been through.

He didn't have much time to continue to ponder about this as they reached the hokage tower soon afterwards. They walked inside, hoping to find the Godaime hokage and end this weird mission they had been forced upon. On their way up to the hokage's office, they found Shizune, also on her way up with a large stack of papers for the hokage.

"Ah, Shizune-san!" Sakura greeted. "Is Tsunade-shishou here?"

"Yes she is, Sakura-san," Shizune replied, nodding at Sasuke who gave a short nod in return. "I'm just going up with some papers to her. You two can accompany me if you want." And so the three continued up the stairs together. "Say, Sakura-san, how is the handcuffed mission going?"

"Oh, you know? Did Naruto tell you?" Sakura replied casually, thought she wanted to pound Naruto for spilling the beans.

"No such thing," Shizune replied with a gentle shake of her head. "Tsunade-sama told me yesterday after you guys left. She had me bring Naruto into her office again to personally remind him once more that he was not to tell anyone."

"Oh, I see," Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, I think we're pretty much finished with the mission so we're hoping that shishou will remove the handcuffs now."

"Already? Well, I'm sure if you've made enough progress there shouldn't be anything stopping you from leaving here handcuff-free," Shizune answered, although she seemed a bit unsure, as if she was hiding something.

"Ne, Shizune-san," Sakura begun, but they had then reached the hokage's office.

"I'll go ahead first so just wait here Sakura-san, Sasuke," Shizune quickly replied and disappeared inside the office. They were left just awkwardly standing there for that seemed like half an hour, but only was five minutes. Both refused to look at each other, neither sure how the other would react and neither sure if they wanted or cared to know. Finally, the doors were opened and Shizune appeared again. "I'll have to get down to the hospital again since you're not there, Sakura-san, but I'll see you later."

"Yeah, bye Shizune-san," Sakura called after her. Then, together with Sasuke, she stepped into the hokage's office and under the curious look of her mentor. They stood in front of her desk, neither looking at the other as they waited for the hokage to speak.

"Well, Sakura, this is a surprise," Tsunade started, a small grin tugging at her lips. "And without Naruto too? Tell me, what is your reason for being here?"

"We want to remove the handcuffs," Sasuke spoke up before Sakura. "We have talked together and made up whatever needed to be made up. Now, unlock these," he held out his arm, forcing Sakura to do the same.

"Now wait a minute, Uchiha, there's no need to get ahead of yourself," Tsunade replied, the grin playing on her lips. "As far as I can see, you two are no better off than yesterday. In fact you two haven't even looked at each other since you stepped inside, and Shizune also told me that you seemed to be ignoring each other when she met you earlier too. Is this what you call progress?"

"Eh, shishou, we-"

"Heh, don't even try, Sakura. You're just as intent on ignoring each other as you were yesterday. Didn't I tell you that unless you started talking and acknowledging each other instead of this, I would consider letting you go? As of now, it's just as bad. Besides, I gave Naruto the job of dragging you back here when you were talking again, though I don't see him here." Tsunade's eyes now had a mischievous glint in them.

"But you don't see, Tsunade-shishou, we did talk! And I am more comfortable being around him than yesterday, although I don't know for Sasuke-kun," she shot a quick glance at the boy beside her, "but you can't expect us to immediately go back to the way everything once were, do you? You weren't even here and-"

"Exactly my point," Tsunade interrupted smugly. "You can't make up everything in only a night. That is why this is an A-ranked mission and, as I said yesterday; it is up to me to decide when you've improved enough to be released, not up to you. Though if you keep this slow progress up, there is no telling when the handcuffs can come off. Uchiha, you have to at least try, even though you're socially inept." She grinned as Sasuke glared at her.

"Ah, Tsunade-shihou!" Sakura looked between her mentor and Sasuke, though she didn't stare at the latter for long as she remembered the bathroom scene and blushed as she looked away again. Tsunade noticed this though, grinning even more than before.

"The mission is still on for as long as I say it is. Now go find Naruto and go to Ichiraku's or something, he'll know better than you when you're finished with the mission. Consider this a vacation if nothing else, Sakura, you really have been overworking yourself anyways and this might help you relax more," she winked at the girl, her grin now greatly resembling a Cheshire grin as her students cheeks reddened.

"Ugh," Sakura sighed, hanging her head as she admitted defeat once more and turned to walk out of the office. However, Sasuke still stood in his place, glaring at the hokage who just looked back at him. Having her period now though, the menstruation pain had already started to attack Sakura, only increasing now as they stood there. Just wanting to leave and lay down somewhere, Sakura grasped Sasuke's still outstretched arm with her own and lightly tugged at it. "C'mon Sasuke, let's just go, it's not going to be of any use." Sasuke was about to turn his glare over to Sakura, demanding to know why she would give up so fast, but he then saw the slightly pained look she was trying to hide. In the end he let her lead him out of the hokage's office, giving a last, dark glare to Tsunade on his way out. She only smirked in return. This was indeed very interesting and fun.

As soon as they were out of the office, Sasuke turned to Sakura. "Sakura, what's wrong? Why would you just give in?" He eyed her suspiciously.

Sighing once again, the girl replied: "I know shishou and how stubborn she can be, and by the look in her eyes I could tell that she wouldn't budge in her decision. Besides, it was starting to get a little hot in there and I just wanted to get out," Sakura murmured the last part, refusing to look at Sasuke. He knew she was lying though, if anything it had been cold in the hokage's office. Intent that she wouldn't show any sign of weakness or pain in front of Sasuke, although she might regret it, she figured that the pain probably wouldn't get so much worse and that she could bare it without using her medical chakra or a painkiller.

Sakura released a breath, plastered on a smile and said: "Should we perhaps go find Naruto? Though I don't doubt he'll keep his mouth shut, there's nothing wrong in checking, right? Besides I need to go to my apartment and also to the store. Oh, um, by the way," Sakura glanced away from Sasuke again, a small blush again creeping up to her cheeks. "Will we be sleeping in your house again this night? I understand if you don't want me in your parents bed again and all… I should probably buy something to wash off the blood stain and such." The last sentence she said mostly to herself.

"Hn, I told you we have bigger beds now, didn't I?" Sasuke replied, smirking a little at Sakura's reaction and embarrassment. She was still as amusing as ever with her reactions to him and his actions. "The dobe's probably at Ichiraku's, it is around lunch time after all. We can go to your apartment and the store afterwards." He started walking again, heading to the stairs and later the entrance of the hokage tower.

Remembering Sasuke's earlier words about hiding the handcuffs, she quickly fell into step with him. The short walk to Ichiraku's was once again silent; Sasuke trying to figure out what Sakura was hiding for him while wondering why he should care, though knowing part of the reason, and Sakura was walking by his side, dreading what would happen if Ino were to find out about this. She would probably tease Sakura to death! As if Tsunade playing with them wasn't bad enough. How was this even going to end? By the look in Tsunade's eyes, she would probably not let them go in some time, and enjoy to the fullest the awkward mission she had given her student.

As they neared Ichiraku's, they could hear the loud yelling for more ramen that belonged to the one and only Naruto Uzumaki. A sudden thought struck Sakura: "Ne Sasuke-kun, for how long do you think he's been there today? I mean I remember him blabbering about wanting to move into Ichiraku's as soon as it was back in business, but talking to Hinata that luckily hasn't happened, though it is close. She told me she was a bit frustrated by how much time he spent there when not training or with Tsunade-shihou. Do you think he was actually serious?" Sakura shot a slightly worried glance at Sasuke.

"Hn, maybe, though he hopefully has a bit more brain cells than he did when he was twelve," Sasuke answered with a smirk. "He's probably been there all morning."

Just then they arrived at Ichiraku's and as the blonde saw them he jumped out of his chair to greet them. "Sakura-chan! Sasuske-teme! There you are!"

"Hey Naruto. You sound as if you've been looking for us?" Sakura answered, eyeing the blonde a bit sceptically as she noticed all the empty bowls standing behind said blonde. If he had been looking for them, the he had been caught up here pretty soon afterwards.

"Yeah, well, I didn't see you after leaving Tsunade-baachan's office so I figured that I could look for you today. Of course, I couldn't search on an empty stomach so I came here first to prepare!" He grinned at them.

"Honestly Naruto," Sakura sighed, shaking her head.

"Tch, dobe," Sasuke grunted.

"What did you say teme?!" Naruto was ready to jump at him at once, easily falling into the old patterns. It was weird how little their interactions had changed compared to how they themselves had changed. However, not wanting to be caught in between the two because of the handcuffs, Sakura placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Let's just eat, alright?" She halfway dragged Sasuke with her as she sat down at the seat beside the one Naruto had occupied. It wasn't intentional; it was just because of the handcuffs. Still, he sent her a light glare because of this.

"Hahaha, so Tsunade-baachan still hasn't let you out of the handcuffs, huh?" Naruto grinned. "Too bad for you, ne teme! So how was the night, huh? You had fun being stuck together all night?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, grinning mischievously at the two. Sakura, who had just had a sip of water, spit it right out, her face flaming up like it had already done too many times that day. Sasuke stiffened, glaring heatedly from his spot to the right of Sakura, and cursing inwardly as his imagination actually tried to continue down the road Naruto had just opened. Though his cheeks was not in such a vibrate colour as Sakura's, his cheeks had heated up too, making the Uchiha curse at himself yet again.

"What the heck do you think you're trying to say, pervert?!" Sakura raged, trying to cover up her embarrassment, though failing, as she pounded the blonde who had just taken a seat on her other side moments before. Pictures from waking up this morning in Sasuke's arms played through her mind once more, along with her bleeding on the bed. Laying her head in her free hand, slightly covering it, all Sakura wanted to do was to melt through the ground, get away from everyone, especially Sasuke and Naruto and just go hide in a dark place the rest of the day. On top of that her stomach was still hurting. Why did it have to end up like this? Opening one of her eyes, the one not covered by her hand, she smiled wryly to herself. Sasuke probably didn't think of her like that anyways, and he probably never would either. So in the end she was probably just tormenting herself with thinking like this while he just found this all annoying, being stuck with someone like her.

The food arrived just afterwards, and plastering on the smile form before, Sakura started to eat her ramen. "Sorry Sakura-chan," Naruto muttered as he sat down again beside her, a large lump on the back of his head. Sakura just nodded while continuing to awkwardly eat her ramen. Having first watched Sakura punch Naruto out of embarrassment with a smirk, he frowned slightly as he continued to watch her as she sobered up and almost tiredly placed her face in her hand. He watched with slight confusion as she sat there for a minute, almost lost in her own thoughts, before a wry smile appeared in her face for a moment, only to be replaced just as quickly with a fake smile. It didn't seem like Naruto had noticed, though he had just been pounded into a wall and also, Sakura had been covering half her face, so Naruto probably wouldn't have seen it anyways.

Was Sakura tired from the huge lack of sleep earlier this week? No, Sasuke knew she had gone much longer without sleep and been handling it much better than this. What was the cause then? Was it the fact that she was still handcuffed to him? Probably. Although she had forgiven him and seemed be taking it well already, he knew, as she had said in the hokage's office, that things needed time, she needed time. Her avoiding him was proof of that now, wasn't it? She probably still doubted him, perhaps uncertain on how to act around him, and it surprised him that it stung a little inside. He knew that he wasn't the best to ask for forgiveness either. Just talking in general held little interest to him unless he was getting to know something useful like battle tactics or new jutsus. At least, that was how it had been these past years as he had been continually seeking ways to become stronger, and shunned everything else. But now, the war was over, the council would be punished, he was on probation and the immediate need to get stronger, better than everyone else wasn't there anymore.

Still, how could they expect that he would just suddenly start blabbering, just like Naruto? He hadn't even been like that when he was young, and although he might have talked a bit more then, he was still and Uchiha, and preferred actions over words. "Ne, Sasuke-kun, aren't you going to eat?" Sakura's gentle voice shook him out of his musings. He'd been too lost in thoughts to notice his food, and now, halfway through her own bowl, Sakura sat staring slightly confused at him. "Is something the matter?" She seemed a bit wary as she asked this, maybe unsure of his reaction.

"Hn," he just grunted, looking back down at his food.

"I can eat it for you teme!" Naruto exclaimed happily, already leaning over to snatch the bowl away from him. A pair of chopsticks slapped his hand away.

"Naruto, you've already eaten more than enough today, besides you still haven't finished the one in your hands!" Sakura countered, turning slightly to Naruto. Grinning sheepishly, Naruto continued to eat his own bowl of ramen, inhaling it down as usual.

"So, **slurp** what're **slurp** you guys **slurp** going to **slurp** do now?" Naruto asked between mouthfuls.

"Naruto, do you still have no manners? Geez," Sakura sighed. She had now finished her bowl of ramen and felt a little better than before, but the pain was still there in her stomach, constantly reminding her of its irritation presence. "We have to go over to my apartment to fetch some things and then we'll go grocery shopping."

"Ehehe, you sure you're not just secretly married 'cause you sure sound like it!" Naruto replied impishly. A quick smack to his head later, his face was buried in the ramen bowl courtesy of Sakura. "Alright, well you guys have fun there then! I'm going over to Hinata's, I think she wanted to train together or something. I should probably get going, wouldn't want to be late, right?" Naruto rose to his feet.

"Oh, well that sounds nice," Sakura replied, pleasantly surprised. "Say hi to Hinata for me then, will you?"

"Sure thing Sakura-chan, later teme!" With that Naruto disappeared out of Ichiraku's, leaving a large stack of empty bowls and no money.

"Oh geez, that Naruto," Sakura sighed exasperated, trying to count just how many bowls of ramen the boy had eaten that day.

"We should probably get going too Sakura," Sasuke spoke, having already pulled forth a wallet and placed a good amount of money on the table.

"Ah, but Sasuke-kun, I can pay for myself, you don't have to-"

"Just come Sakura," he replied, smirking somewhat as he was the one now halfway dragging Sakura out of Ichiraku's. "Now, where is this apartment of yours?"


	3. Chapter 3: Cramps and chocolate

I told you it would take longer for me to update now, didn't I? And I'm also sorry that this is a bit shorter than the previous ones, but it just fit to end it there, and if I had continued then you guys would have to wait even longer for an update, and I know that at least Matthew probably wouldn't let me hear the end of it then. Again thank you guys so much for your support and liking this fic, each time I get a message about someone either favoriting or alerting or reviewing I just get so happy :) Also Sasusakulover, due to you either not having an account here or not having logged in, I sadly couldn't reply directly to you, but thank you so much for your kind words and for reviewing my story! I hope that all of you find this new chapter to your liking.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only this fanfic is mine.

**Cramps and chocolate**

"Oh, it's just nearby," Sakura answered, smiling a little at his actions. "This way." She started down towards the left, away from the hokage tower, Sasuke walking beside her. Walking down the path leading to her apartment, Sakura remembered that she hadn't really seen much of her parents since the war started. She had ben so busy with everything, even when she returned she had barely seen them. She guessed she should go pay them a visit; at least once she got out of these handcuffs. She sighed a bit, wondering what her parents would say if they knew that she'd been handcuffed together with Sasuke. Her father would probably be overreacting, yelling at Sasuke, blaming him for it or something similar while her mother would worry about the indecency of it all. Hopefully they would never find out.

Reaching her apartment, Sakura pulled forth her key and locked them both in. The inside was a mess, mostly because she usually brought her work back home with her and continued to work on it there, especially when she was avoiding Sasuke. "Ah, excuse the mess," Sakura exclaimed embarrassedly. "I just get a little carried away with my work sometimes. This way." Sasuke stayed silent as she led him into her bedroom. She picked up a small bag from her closet and stuffed some clothes from said closet into it. He was a little amused by all the mess in her apartment, though it wasn't really hard to guess why as he already knew how committed Sakura was to her work. Moving over to her bedside table, she also packed her most important books and notebooks so she could work on them while staying at the Uchiha compound. Lastly she got her toiletries from her small bathroom, looking around to see if she'd missed anything and then walked over to the door again with Sasuke in tow.

"Let's head to the store now then," Sakura said as she locked up her apartment again. She only got a small grunt in reply, but it was normal so she didn't mind. She found that she had actually gotten used to him again pretty fast, and parts of that scared her. How had it all happened? And how were they so accustomed to each other and their ways of acting that things could fall that quickly into place again, even after being years apart? Sasuke felt it the same way, wondering when and how he got so familiar with this pink haired girl by his side. They hadn't been like that before had they? He couldn't remember. Sakura was one of the few people Sasuke actually felt comfortable lowering his guard while being around.

As the Yamanaka flower shop came up ahead, Sakura suddenly tensed, not wanting to meet her best girlfriend slash rival now. Not like this anyways. Ino would probably tease Sakura half to death and definitely not let her forget it. She would probably tell everyone from the Rookie 9 too. Sakura just shuddered at the thought, not wanting to think of any more possibilities down that road. Unfortunately, just as they were passing the flower shop, Ino came out, holding a bouquet of flowers.

"Ah, forehead, just the one I wanted to talk to!" The girl exclaimed at once when she laid eyes on Sakura. "Ah, Sasuke too, well forehead, can I talk to you for a minute?" Ino continued, waggling her eyebrow suggestively, looking between the two of them.

Sighing, knowing it had probably been inevitable from the start, Sakura replied: "Not now pig, we're going to the grocery store right now, I'll call you later or something, okay?" Moving as to walk away, hoping this had saved her, but knowing better Sakura was immediately stopped as Ino came up to them. She was about to retort, claiming that she absolutely had to talk to Sakura when she noticed the handcuffs. Her eyes widened before a smug smile placed itself on her lips. She, of course, knew how the pink haired girl in front of her still felt for her raven-haired companion.

"Oh but forehead, how can you go around publicly like _that_? Isn't such things as those reserved to the bed room in the darkest hours of night?" She grinned, eyes shining mischievously. Sakura, immediately picking up on the meaning behind Ino's words, blushed crimson red, almost dropping her bag at the suggestion.

"Wh-what are you saying, p-pig?! It isn't nothing like that, Tsunade-shishou forced us!" She was blushing madly, now not being able to look at neither Sasuke nor Ino.

"Oh my Sakura, really?" Ino dramatically patted her cheek, pretending to take her friends words all wrong while waggling her eyebrows.

"Ah, no! You know what I meant pig!"

"I can't say I can, forehead," Ino winked at her. " But come over to me whenever you're finished with whatever this," she gestured to them being handcuffed, "is because I think we seriously need another girl talk. See you forehead, Sasuke!" With that Ino winked again, going back to her shop, leaving a really flustered and embarrassed Sakura and a slightly dubious Sasuke. What the heck had Ino meant? Surely she couldn't be suggesting that…? A light bulb went off in Sasuke's head and he glared at the retreating girl for ever having suggested such indecent behaviour. He then glanced at Sakura, knowing by her blush that she had understood it all right away, and he wasn't sure if he should feel amused by her reaction or unnerved by her understanding.

Deciding to just push it away, he scoffed, turning to continue walking to the store, dragging a still blushing Sakura with him. Exactly how long was this day going to be anyway? Reaching the store some minutes later, still in a somewhat embarrassed silence; Sakura was about to pick up a small shopping basket, juggling with her bag as well, when Sasuke snatched it away from her. Sakura stared confused, though still blushing a little from Ino's words, up at Sasuke who just continued into the store, further dragging her with him.

"What do you need?" he grunted out, clearly not going to ask the question in her eyes.

"Oh, well, I need some pads and soap, over here," she led the way through the store, collecting everything she would need with him trailing behind, holding the basket as she occasionally placed items into them. "How much food do you have in the house?" She asked once she was finished with picking out her pads, soap and detergent for Sasuke's sheets. She had also found some painkillers and put them into the basket when she thought he wasn't watching. He was though, clearly seeing her hesitate and cast a glance up at him and at her stomach before throwing them into the basket. Why would she buy painkillers anyway? Sasuke wondered.

"Hn, clearly not enough," he stated, subtly hinting to the fact that her also being in his house wouldn't make the food last. Sakura nodded absentmindedly, not replying, just heading towards a stock with vegetables. Wasn't she usually more talkative than this? Surely, even though she'd changed and Ino had made her embarrassed by the flower shop, she talked more than this right? She had more life in her replied too, like when she yelled at the hokage yesterday. Surely there had to be something wrong with her, she seemed paler too. What was that girl doing with her own body anyways? Sasuke knew she had been overworking herself for a long time and this too annoyed him. It was also annoying how he suddenly found himself caring about all this without knowing why. Stupid, annoying girl making him worry without knowing why.

When Sasuke caught Sakura wincing slightly from pain as she inspected an apple, he knew he wanted to confront her. Whether he cared or not he at least wanted to know what was going of to make his teammate behave so un-Sakura like and wincing from pain. Well, un-Sakura like to him at least. "Sakura, what's the matter," he quietly asked as she picked her apples. As if a daze was broken, Sakura whipped her head to look at him, pain still evident in her eyes.

"W-What?"

Sighing, he asked again: "What is wrong with you?"

At once Sakura's face was transformed into a smile, a bit tight one though. "Wrong? Heh, there is nothing wrong Sasuke-kun," Sakura replied, trying to laugh it off, but the slight wince made him scowl. He reached out to take her hand as to get her to look at him again, however her hand was cold and slightly sweaty. He frowned more over this. "I'm fine, there is nothing to worry about Sasuke-kun, after all I'm the doctor, remember?" She gave him a real smile now. Sighing, he gave up. Well, if she wanted to be in pain then so be it. It wasn't as if he cared or anything. He turned slightly away from her.

Sakura silently cursed at herself. Dang it, she had decided to not be a burden to Sasuke, hadn't she? Keeping this up he would just get more and more annoyed with her too. She was stronger than this, she had even been pierced with a sword and still smiled! Knowing that Sasuke was probably now even more suspicious and careful than ever, Sakura put on the mask she had developed over the years to hide the pain and act as if nothing was wrong. They continued walking around the store, picking out different ingredients for different meals, Sasuke having already picked himself a nice, large stock of fresh tomatoes. A thought of how it almost felt like they were a couple randomly popped into Sakura's mind, however she brushed away as quickly as the idea had come, wondering about where it even came from.

On the way to the cashier, they passed through the large rows filled with candy and Sakura felt a sudden, inexplicably craving for chocolate. When she remembered that she hadn't actually treated herself to something good for months, the last time being before the war, Sakura's want for chocolate grew even more. So, to Sasuke's slight amusement, Sakura found herself going over and buying chocolate, and not a small amount either. She found some of the largest bags with chocolate she could find, filled with different types and tastes of chocolate and stuffed a bunch of them into the basket Sasuke was carrying. When she saw the raised eyebrow of her companion she blushed, looking away while stated that she hadn't tasted chocolate in a while and had suddenly felt the need to buy some. This prompted Sasuke's eyebrow to rise even higher if it was even possible, wondering just what was up with his teammates weird behaviour.

Sasuke ended up paying now too, stating that it was food for his house anyways, and though Sakura tried to insist upon being the one paying, at least for her chocolate since Sasuke wouldn't eat any of it, he just gave her a weird, slightly searching look before paying for it all. Feeling as tired as she did, Sakura put up little to no fight, just giving up instead of further arguing like she normally would have done. The pain from her period cramps was really starting to get her. Seriously, just how bad was it supposed to be? It was ages since she'd felt that bad on a period, though she usually just lived on painkillers and chocolate during her periods so hopefully some of the chocolate they'd bought would help. Sasuke ended up being the one carrying it all too, it wasn't that many bags either, but Sakura still felt bad, and slightly weird, when she saw him pick up all the bags and head home.

On their way to the Uchiha compound, Sakura pondered about what was going to happen now, if only to focus on something other than her cramps. Sasuke probably found it all annoying; Naruto's teasing, Tsunade indirectly playing matchmaker and Ino suggesting undecent activities between the two. Surely he could care less, right? He was Sasuke after all. Sakura didn't know anymore, though she guessed she hadn't really known in the first place either. After all, the only thing she knew was that she was still hopelessly in love with Sasuke, but she had no idea if he had even thought about her in any way similar to that so surely he didn't, couldn't reciprocate her feelings. And yet there she was, spending the days with the man she loved, being as confused as ever. It should probably have made her overjoyed, her twelve year old self would have been, but right now it was just too exhausting, not knowing if he actually cared for her at all anymore, if he would ever care.

Then came his actions. Him paying for both her meal and the food they had bought, him actually seeming interested in knowing what was wrong with her in the store and also seeming to care about getting her forgiveness. Was it just because she was his former teammate? Because he just didn't want some dead weight tied to him that could faint any moment? Or was it that he actually felt something? That he actually cared, if only a little bit? Maybe he just wanted her forgiveness so he wouldn't have anything to feel guilty about anymore and thus did all this. As far as Sakura knew, that was the only probable explanation. Finally reaching the Uchiha compound, Sakura felt exhausted, both from her period cramps and from her emotional uncertainty and pondering. All she wanted to do was crash on a couch or a bed and stuff her face with chocolate, then maybe try to sleep the pain away. She was also pondering if she should just take a painkiller now, even though Sasuke would see it.

Before she did anything though she knew she needed to go to the bathroom to change the pads. It would do her no good bleeding on these clothes too. And that reminded her that she needed to put the bloodily sheets into some water with detergent to see if at least some of the blood would come off. Sighing, she placed her bag on the counter in the kitchen, searching through it for a new pad. She turned to Sasuke beside her who had just started packing out of the bags, the unfamiliar actions slightly startling her. After everything it was pretty weird seeing Sasuke action, well, _normally_, going around with shopping bags and packing out food and such. It surprised her a little, seeing him as that, though it wasn't that weird seeing as she was used to only seeing him a few times a year if she was lucky, always ready for a fight.

Feeling her stare on him, Sasuke looked up, wondering what the girl wanted now. He saw that she was holding something, something she'd also held this morning in the bathroom. She wasn't going to say she needed another shower now was she? He doubted it and her next sentence confirmed his doubt: "Ah, Sasuke-kun, I just have to go to the toilet to change my pads." So they had to change pads, how often? He found himself wondering as he followed after her to the bathroom. He didn't really know anything about periods and women's anatomy and such, why should he? He didn't have any use for it, and probably never would either. Still he found himself curious as to the cycle and reason of it all. This was what was required for women to have babies, right? He vaguely remembered talking to his mother and Itachi about something like this. But he couldn't remember much of it, though that wasn't really surprising seeing as he had only been six years old and suddenly got the idea to ask where babies came from.

He didn't say anything, just watched her as he walked behind her, noticing that she walked slightly slumped, almost like she was tired. He was sure she was hiding something from him, he knew it! And it annoyed him to no end, not that he would ever admit that to anyone though. He stood facing the bathtub as Sakura changed her pad, thoughts about the situation in the bathroom suddenly creeping up on him again. Annoying. Why was it that ever since he had returned to the village, thoughts like these had continued to pop up? Thoughts about his former teammates, former _friends_, wondering about what they had done all this time, how they had changed so much and yet stayed the same. Was this how they really felt towards him, or was it all an act? Surely, not all the feelings could've stayed the same through all these years, right? Memories from that night, when he had left the village despite Sakura's confession invaded his mind for a moment, before he irritated pushed all these weird, useless thoughts away. Again, why should he care?

The low sound the lid of the small trashcan beside the toilet made as it closed snapped Sasuke out of his thoughts. Turning he saw Sakura just turning around as well, finished changing her pads. Her mouth was halfway open, face slightly twisted in a small grimace, but when she saw Sasuke turning towards her she closed her mouth, her smile back in place. Without saying something she went over to the sink and washed her hands, him coming over as well so she could do so. Drying her hands on a towel beside her, making him bend slightly towards her with the gentle nudge of the handcuff, Sakura opened her mouth again, no grimace this time. "I'm all done now. We should probably go and put away all the groceries."

"Hn." So she still wouldn't tell him anything? Fine. He walked out of the bathroom, actually finding himself wondering what had happened to that twelve-year-old girl he had left here in Konoha all those years ago. But of course people changed, and she did too. He had already witnessed that, both before and during the war, and also when they came back from the war. He started to clean out of the shopping bags, uncharacteristically wondering further about this, while part of him kept wondering why he suddenly would think of these things. Sakura stood beside him, she too cleaning out of the bags, though she seemed distant, like she was deep in thought. She also had no idea where to put the groceries and the pain never left. In fact, since they had come out of the hokage tower it actually seemed like the pain had increased rather than disappearing. She was starting to feel slightly light-headed too, and she didn't like it.

In the end Sakura just ended up randomly following Sasuke around through his kitchen, her with her arms full of food and him placing them where they were usually stored. It didn't take long, but Sakura still felt even worse afterwards. The lightheaded feeling from the period cramps was really starting to get to her, making her almost lose her balance once and she knew she needed to lie down, if only for a minute. Lightly touching her temple, Sakura tried to force the pain and lightheaded feelings away, but it did not help. She gave up on it and just walked over to the couch in the living room that they the previous afternoon had shared when reading. She walked as if in a daze, eyes dull from the pain, palms sweaty. Ignoring everything now, Sakura plopped down in the couch, curling into a fetal position, eyes closing as soon as she lied down.

And surprisingly, it did actually help, if only a little bit. The lightheaded feeling started to retreat and she felt comfort in lying on the couch like that. However, the handcuff still hanging and dangling around her wrist reminded her that she wasn't alone. The feeling of someone's intense stare on her only confirmed this. And yet Sakura didn't want to open up her eyes, not ready yet. She wasn't ready for the questions and explanations she knew was coming. In Sasuke's eyes she probably looked weaker and more annoying than ever. Dang it! After all she had promised herself to never appear weak in front of him again, and now she was doing just that. Why hadn't she just taken that stupid painkiller in the first place? Why did she still act so stupid around him? Why did he have to have such an impact over her life even after all these years?

"Sakura," he said. Yup, it was already starting. How was she even going to explain this to him anyways? 'Oh, sorry Sasuke, I was just so afraid of appearing weak in front of you that I didn't take the painkiller when I had the chance and now I look even worse than ever?' Yeah, because that would surely work. She winced slightly from the pain again. Stupid period. "Sakura." Her name was repeated, this time with a little more force behind it. She sighed, not wanting to reply, especially since she had no idea how her voice would work but knowing he probably would just keep on waiting for an answer, she cracked an eye open.

Sasuke stood over her, slightly bent over because of the handcuffed hand, staring intently down at her. He wore an unreadable expression, but Sakura knew he was probably confused as to what she was doing, at least if Sasuke ever got confused. She closed her eye again, not ready to be stared down by him like he usually did. "…What…?" she croaked out, voice raspy.

"What's wrong with you?" came the reply.

Sighing, she started: "Nothings wrong Sasuke, I'm just-"

"Stop it Sakura," he cut her off demandingly, sounding a little annoyed. "You're paler than usual, you've been zoning out all day, been quieter than usual and just right now, you forgot the '-kun'. Now tell me what's wrong."

"As I said, it's nothing to worry about, just some period cramps," she muttered, eyes still closed.

"Then why haven't you taken some painkillers or eased it with medical chakra? I saw you put them in the shopping basket." He had her cornered now.

It was inevitable, wasn't it? Sighing, she murmured: "Because I didn't want to appear weak or seem like a burden. If I took painkillers or used my medical chakra for something you didn't know what was then surely I would appear weak, wouldn't I? Also, if I were in such pain then I would only prove to be a burden, as you would probably start to wonder if I would faint or anything else would happen due to my period. And I have been through my fair share of battle wounds so I thought that I would just ignore the pain and play it off like normal, but I forgot how bad such cramps sometimes get, especially since I'm so used to just popping some painkillers in my mouth and continue working. Heh, so in the end Sasuke_-kun_, I ended up just doing exactly what I didn't want to do; appear weak in front of you." A wry smile grazed her lips for a moment, before quickly disappearing again. It was actually easier to speak like this, with her eyes closed, because then she could imagine she was somewhere else, and not lying on his couch in his house handcuffed to him with period cramps.

"…Stupid," he scoffed, though it sounded more gentle than he would normally say it, at least to Naruto. Why would she worry about how she appeared to him? It was stupid really, worrying about how he viewed her rather than taking care of her pain instead. It brought back memories of their genin days. He had seen her discreetly placing the painkillers in her ninja pouch that was now lying on the small table just next to him. Picking it up he opened it, looking through it in search of said box of painkillers. He found them, along with a small chocolate bar. He looked at it for a moment, staring slightly amused between the girl and the chocolate, before he placed it back again, pulling out her painkillers instead. Being a medic she could probably swallow this without water, right? Still, her voice had sounded slightly raspy.

Gently taking a hold of her upper arm, he pulled her to her feet, bringing the still dazed and now confused Sakura with him to the kitchen. He placed the painkillers on the counter, found a glass from one of the cupboards and filled it with water for her. She looked both dubious and confused at him over this. It was eerily silent in the entire house as she stood there, still lightheaded, starting between him and the painkillers.

After she had done this for half a minute, Sasuke shook his head slightly. "Just take it already Sakura," he grunted. Giving him once last searching, yet dazing look, she warily opened the package with painkillers, taking out two pills and swallowed them down with the glass of water. As she put the glass in the sink after she was done, she noticed Sasuke open up another cupboard and pull something out of it. It was one of the bags of chocolate she had stuffed into the shopping basket earlier that day. He held it out for her to take, looking at her with that unreadable expression of his. She took it apprehensively, wondering if he had done something to it or if she was too induced in pain so she hallucinated.

"You did intent to eat it, didn't you?" His low baritone broke the silence. "And since you bought so much and know I don't eat chocolate, I'm guessing this was the reason." She nodded slightly, trying to search his gaze, but failing. Therefore she just opened the bag with chocolate instead, walking back towards the couch as she chewed on some of the chocolaty goodness. She plopped down on the couch once more, pulling her knees up to her chest to best ease the pain until the painkillers took effect. She didn't bother using the medical chakra, having already come this far without it and the painkillers wouldn't take that long to ease out her pain either so until then she figured she'd just eat some more chocolate and relax on the couch. After having eaten half the package of chocolate, she threw it on the table and lay down again on the couch. Her strategy worked, the pain slowly subsiding and she became more and more sleepy as she lay there on the couch.

That was until an unexpected question brought her back to half consciousness again: "Sakura, tell me about periods." Had Sakura not been so dazed from her period cramps and the painkillers started taking effect, she would've probably bolted right up on the couch, starting to splutter nonsense while blushing furiously. She did the latter though, cheeks glowing red.

"W-what?" She spluttered, wondering why Sasuke would even want to know about such things. Was this so he could prepare to restore his clan or something? She made herself blush more with these words, though Sasuke didn't notice, staring slightly away from her instead.

"Hn, I am forced to live with you and you have periods, therefore I want to know what I'm up against," he answered, making it sound more like he was preparing to defeat an enemy ninja or something. 'Besides, I probably need to know it for later anyways,' his mind continued for him.

"With all your fancy scrolls and such there is bound to be something about it in the archives so why don't you just go check there?" Sakura mumbled out. She was joking though; seriously doubting such a thing could be found even in these archives and mentally prepared herself for the embarrassing talk they were now going to have.

"Hn, annoying," he grunts, taking her words for truth and walking over to her. Without much effort he picks her up in his arms, being careful with the handcuffs.

"W-what are y-you doing, S-Sasuke-kun?!" The girl spluttered, eyes now flying open again.

"Hn, I'm going down to the archives," he answered as he moved away from the couch and started walking towards the stairs to the basement.

"W-what?" Sakura was confused for a second, her dazed mind not really helping either. "Oh, but I was just joking," she continued as she picked up on his intention. "You probably won't find anything like that there anyways so of course I'll tell you, just go back upstairs. You really don't have to carry me like this, I can walk myself, even though I'm weak at the moment." She looked down at her hand in her lap, blushing. Her other hand hung limply down at her side as it that way would make it easier for him to carry her with the handcuffs without it becoming uncomfortable for either of them.

"Hn, I'm already halfway downstairs," he scoffed in reply, continuing down the stairs with her in his arms. Her blush intensified again, though the daze of her mind made her more comfortable in his arms than she might have been otherwise and tired as she still was, she found herself slightly leaning her head against his chest. Reaching the bottom of the stairs Sasuke continued down the hallways towards the same archive room they had been in the previous night. Entering, Sasuke realized just how large this room actually was. He hadn't really thought that much over it before, but now he realized just how much knowledge must be stored in here.

Sakura too was looking around, wondering where they should start. "It's probably either under medical knowledge or anatomy."

"Aa," he brought them over to the first shelf with scrolls and journals, still holding Sakura in his arms. It didn't take them long to find a large file about human anatomy and quickly skimming through it, Sakura found that it had a really good explanation about the female reproductive system as well.

"When you finish reading this, the only thing left is to find a girl and then you can restore your clan," Sakura mumbled, not fully realizing what she was saying. Sasuke looked at her weirdly. "Ah, sorry, I didn't notice I said it out loud," she mumbled quickly, wondering to herself why she would blurt out such a weird thing.

Sasuke glanced down at her before he went over to the closest wall and put her down. He sat down beside her, forcing her to sit down too and pulled out the folder to once and for all find out all about this female body stuff. Leaning his back at the wall while reading, he felt something come to rest on his shoulder after some minutes. Looking over he found that Sakura had finally fallen asleep, head now leaning on his shoulder as she slept. He smirked a little at this and over how easily she let her guard down around him even though she had just forgiven him and stopped ignoring him. Bad habits die hard he guessed. It also surprised him again how quickly he had gotten comfortable to this girls presence, how she could amuse him like no other while she has just being herself. Had it been like this before, when they were genins? He didn't know, not sure if he wanted to continue to ponder about this either as he couldn't see where that road was headed. Shaking his head slightly he continued to read about the female reproductive system, getting more and more understanding of just what restoring his clan really meant.


	4. Chapter 4: The anatomy of a woman

**The anatomy of a woman**

When Sasuke as a naïve little boy had come running into the kitchen, asking his mother and brother how babies were born, he had received the typical the birds and the bees story from his mother. He had accepted it quickly enough, not thinking that much about it, before running over to Itachi to beg him train him. As he got older, he understood that this wasn't exactly how it happened, and he had a vague idea when he as a twelve-year-old boy proclaimed to his team that he was going to restore his clan after killing his brother. By now he knew the basic things about this, not really having looked into the matter as he had been so focused on killing his brother and getting revenge, thinking that it wasn't that much of a deal and that he could find out later.

Thus, when he now sat in the basement of his house, reading about it in the archive room with a sleeping Sakura resting on his shoulder, he understood just how much about 'restoring his clan' he didn't know. He had gathered that the period was just a way for the girls' body to show that it was ready to get children, but he hadn't expected _this_. All this information, not only about how the body of a woman worked, but also about all the effects, side effects and just general information about how to get pregnant and prevent one from getting pregnant. Sitting there reading with a small blush on his face he understood how much women went through when carrying and giving birth to a baby, how much his own mother had gone through, twice, and also how much the woman helping him reviving his clan was going to go through. And that this was the weirdly normal circle of life.

Several times Sasuke had to put the book away as it got too graphic, especially with the pinkette who was casually sleeping on his shoulder and, for all he knew, could wake up at any moment. He had at first decided to only read the part about periods as that was all he needed to know, but then he continued to read as he found that this was quite useful information, and there was a lot of things he either didn't know, hadn't bothered learning or just had the wrong information about. So in the end he ended up reading the entire section regarding periods and the reproducing cycle of humans.

By the time Sasuke was finished, the blush on his face was larger than ever. Oh how naïve he had been, not actually knowing all the things that happened, and just taking the making and birth of a human life for granted. It was also quite hard for him to imagine his own parents doing this, probably a lot more times than two too, in order to 'create' him and his brother. He had to admit that it was a bit weird imagining his usually so stoic father loving his mother so much that they would decide to have children together. He guessed that he and Itachi had been the answers to that question though, as neither of them would have been born if it hadn't been for the love between Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha.

That again made a question pop into Sasuke's mind: who was he going to revive his clan with? Was there anyone he knew that he was even close to having such feelings for? Someone he could imagine himself starting a family with? All this time he had just been so focused on avenging his clan, feeling nothing but hatred first for his brother, then for the village and the people that had made his brother do such horrible things. And when everything was finally revealed for him, he was just so exhausted emotionally that he hadn't even thought about having to find someone else that he could stand living the rest of his life with. Someone who he would have to learn to love again for, to once again find the gentle side that had been crushed so many years ago. And it would have to be worth it. Did he know anyone like that?

Just as he was thinking these thoughts, the girl beside him stirred, moving slightly and snuggling some more into his shoulder. Could she be someone like that? Someone he could learn to love for? If he looked at it rationally, she was the one who knew him best, despite them not having spent much time together the previous years; she had known him when they grew up and when they were team 7. Despite him not wanting to show any gentle side or affection towards team 7, she and Naruto still had managed to pull him halfway out of his shell, which in turn was why he left, because he didn't want anymore precious people hurt. And then when he was tricked by Orochimaru and Madara, she had been there on the side lines, wanting to help, but not being allowed to.

He had been so annoyed with her because of it, he still partly was, because she had insisted upon loving him through all these years, years when he had hated himself she had still loved him, grown stronger for him. He didn't even know how he felt about it other than that he was grateful that someone had kept hoping, through all these years, she and Naruto had been hoping and trying to bring him back, and in the end, they finally did it. Now however, what did she feel? How did she feel? She had been avoiding him, but mostly because she didn't know how to act, and she was blaming herself for trying to kill him, but did that mean she still had feelings for him on that level? Or simply that she felt guilty about it? He had also caught her blushing a lot this day and a half they'd been together, but it might as well have been because she was embarrassed about having to undress and shower in front of a guy in general as it was embarrassment because it was him.

He didn't know anymore, didn't know her anymore, and it annoyed him. And it annoyed him that it annoyed him because it shouldn't, he hadn't used to care, right? Her rambling on and on about her life to him hadn't actually bothered him as much as he'd first thought, he'd found that he didn't mind the company as it was lonely living on his own. And he had found a weird comfort in the girls fawning over him, even though it was idiotic, because they chose to give him attention, attention that he both loved and hated. In a strange way it made up for his fathers lack of attention and approval of him, but at the same time it didn't, because it wasn't the same. Many of the girls stopped liking him over time, only liking him for his looks and what not, but _she_ still loved him, still cared, even though she saw every bad side he had she didn't give up, and that was comforting, knowing that someone still cared.

Maybe it was the lack of motherly love after his mother died, Sasuke didn't know, he just knew that he had found himself secretly enjoying Sakura's love for him, her being willing to do anything for him because she loved him. At the time though he had never even thought about returning them, her feelings, he'd just been so focused on his revenge and that she couldn't get in the way of that. The question now was, what did he feel? How did he feel? Even though she might or might not still love him, the focus at the moment was what he felt. At the moment it would all be in vain whether she liked him or not if he himself didn't know what he felt. Then he just might end up being cruel to her, giving her false hope for something that might not ever happen.

Did he love her? Was he capable of loving her? After all he'd been through, could he still love someone? Or was it just hate he was capable of doing now? He guessed he was still capable of loving seeing as most of his hatred originated out of the love he had felt for his clan and family. It was just buried deep down inside, behind the fear of being hurt again, the fear of his loved and precious ones being hurt or taken from him once again. In reality, even though he didn't want to admit it, he was fragile, emotionally fragile. Of course he hated it, but he still knew that he was. It had almost driven him mad at some point, making him almost kill the other people that had been, and still was, precious to him.

He knew now that if he had in fact managed to kill the rest of team 7 that day, he would have regretted it. Maybe not right after he'd done it, but he would have regretted it eventually because then he'd be even more alone than he already was. So back to the question, did he love her? He didn't know yet. He knew that he had a soft spot for the certain pinkette, but other than that he really didn't know. Sasuke didn't really like talking and dwelling so much on things like this. He was an Uchiha! They didn't dwell on feeling such as these, did they? Then again, they would have to; he would have to so that he could revive his clan. But at the moment he wasn't really ready to think too deeply on such things.

In all honesty, things like these annoyed him because they were always so uncertain, so complicated. It was like an enemy he didn't know how to conquer, a problem he didn't know how to solve. And most times he couldn't do it alone. Did the dobe know anything about this? After all, he had been taught by both Jiraiya and Kakashi, then again they were both perverts in their own ways, so maybe the only thing Naruto knew was how to peek at women without being caught. It would be typically Naruto though, Sasuke mused, with the dobe's sexy-no-jutsu and everything. He sighed, shaking his head slightly at the thought. Would he really restort to asking Naruto about matters like this? This was pathetic, why would he even consider that?

Sasuke knew the answer though. Because even though he didn't want to admit it, Naruto was like a brother to him, a very weird and rivalry brother, but a brother no less. And he had also finally gotten his eyes open for the fact that Hinata cared for him and loved him and had been doing so for quite a few years. The blonde had been completely flabbergast and blushing when he found out, though judging from his reaction and what happened afterwards, Sasuke guessed the blonde felt something for the Hyuga heiress too. Especially since he had spent more and more time with her these last few weeks, also talking about the Hyuga heiress more frequently. Therefore Sasuke had often ended up walking around alone as the blonde was either preoccupied with said Hyuga or with Tsunade.

Shaking his head slightly, Sasuke glared down at the file that had caused his thoughts to wander in the first place. What was he going to do? He couldn't exactly ignore it either, at least since he was planning on resurrecting his clan. A though struck him as he looked over the file again. Sex, was this really an act of love? Or was it lust? Or maybe both? It was described as being incredibly pleasurable, although a bit painful, but afterwards, if the pair wanted to make a child with doing this, then the body of the woman had to go through about nine months of constant changing, bearing this tiny human life inside. Then, after about nine months, give or take some weeks, the woman gave birth to the child, this too being described as very painful. And it was the woman alone, not the male that went through this entire thing.

There were also all these side effects and mood swings that came with it. Was it worth it? He thought about it, weirdly enough finding himself wondering what a woman thought of such matters. It would have to be worth it seeing as there were constantly people doing this, going together to make and carry forth a child as a symbol of their love and their willingness to create a family together. He'd never really though about it, but how many children did it take to revive a clan? How many children would his wife be willing to give him? _His wife._ He stopped up at bit, mulling over this definition, this title and what it meant. It sounded so foreign to him, so adult, and that too sounded weird, odd. Adult. A grown up, a so-called mature human. He wasn't even eighteen yet. Was he defined as an adult?

A soft murmur shook him out of his thoughts and he looked to his side to find Sakura's face closer than ever. When had that happened? Surely her head hadn't been this close before, right? He found himself unable to look away, transfixed by her. This was no longer the young girl who had professed her love for him with an immature, tear-streaked face. This right before him was the face of a young woman in full bloom, just like her name said. He took in every detail of her face, just staring at it, and yet staring beyond it. She had changed, he knew she had. It wasn't before the fight with Madara and Obito, when they were all there together again at the battlefield in the fourth shinobi war that he had actually thought about it, that she had changed. He hadn't really cared too much for it the other times they'd met, just focusing on them not getting the way of his plans.

But now that he thought about it, she had changed a great deal. Her features were firmer, more defined and grown up, the baby fat having completely left her face. In general she now had the body of an almost grown woman, and her personality seemed to have matured too. The only thing that he could think of at the moment that wasn't changed was her eyes, her overly expressive eyes. He couldn't decide if this was good or bad though, he used to be able to read her through her eyes, but now he didn't actually know her anymore, and her expressions had changed. Also for a kunoichi in general, overly expressive eyes couldn't be good. It could end up turning into a weak point the enemy could exploit and use to get the upper hand. He didn't want that to happen, not to Sakura.

She was annoying, making him ponder over such things as these, having this weird effect on him that he didn't actually know what was. Why did she have to be so annoying? She was far more complicated than Naruto could ever be, that dobe would just fight him and hug him afterwards, already having accepted him back again. And though they had had a strong bond that had been torn, and they each had gone through a lot, Naruto also because of him, they had still managed to hold onto that bond. With Sakura it was different, the bond there was different. She had once loved him, maybe she still did, and he had hurt her in a cruel way. He had needed to though; he still meant that, since he had to go away to get stronger. Though sometimes he wondered what would've happened if he had decided to stay in the village with her and all the others.

Then again, one couldn't change the past, he knew that all too well. Sakura Haruno was fragile, like the flower of her namesake, but at the same time she was strong, like she had proven in the war while fighting alongside him and Naruto. She was a complex, complicated person and so was their bond, their relationship if one could call it that. Not in a romantic way, but a relationship between former teammates and friends. Were they still friends? He didn't know. She had accepted the explanation he had given her quite quickly, but then again, it had been in the middle of the night and she had probably already then felt her period. And now, with the period and all the side effects, was it certain that she actually meant it and wasn't just high on painkillers or something? That she actually understood it all or would he have to explain it to her all over again?

Sasuke sighed. This was all too annoying. He nonchalantly tossed the file to the floor, letting it slide some meters before it stopped. He looked down at his arm and shoulder again, the one Sakura was resting against and found that he hadn't noticed that she had gripped his handcuffed hand with both hers, having slid one slightly under his arm to surround his hand on both sides. Why hadn't he noticed this? Was his body so used to her presence that it didn't react, even after all these years? Sleepiness slowly overtook the shinobi too, having had nightmares for a long time hadn't exactly helped him to sleep, but sitting with her sleeping against his shoulder Sasuke felt at peace, a good peace, for the first time in years. And even though his cheeks were still a little flushed from that weird books' very graphic way of telling the story of the human reproductive cycle, he leaned his head against the wall and slowly fell into a slumber too. The last thing he remembered was the whiff of Sakura's hair as his face was slightly facing her, smelling his shampoo in her hair and his half asleep mind finding it weirdly attractive.

Waking up, Sakura Haruno felt a slight weight on her head, her neck lightly aching because of this. Her bottom was also feeling uncomfortable, sitting on a hard floor and against a wall. She looked groggily around for some minutes, wondering where she was and why she was there. Then she remembered where she was, that she was in the archive room of the Uchiha compound once again, and that she once again had passed out in Sasuke's arms at the exact same stop. She blushed just thinking about it. Jeez, what was it with her and passing out lately? And in Sasuke's arms no less. Sakura wanted nothing more than to die of embarrassment, as she had wished a lot these last few days, or rather, this last day and a half.

She was about to hide her head in her hands, wondering where Sasuke was since he was still handcuffed to her after all, when she felt a slight movement at the top and side of her head. She went completely rigid, suddenly remembering and understanding what that warm feeling that she'd felt on the right side of her body was. It was Sasuke, soundly asleep, somewhat leaning on her with his head lightly resting on top of her head. In front and a little to the side lay the file of female anatomy that she remembered finding for him. So not only had she fallen asleep in his arms twice without him complaining or glaring, but he'd placed her to the wall without wakening her and then fallen asleep halfway over her himself? Was this really Sasuke Uchiha? Maybe it was an imposter, a shadow clone or something. Perhaps Naruto was beginning to play pranks again, getting revenge on her for avoiding him? But no, that wouldn't be possible since Sasuke had been handcuffed to her for so long and slept in the same bed as her, with nightmares and all, besides where would the real Sasuke be then?

Sakura wasn't sure what to think. Was Sasuke really that comfortable around her? Sure, they'd slept in a bed together, but that was only because they were handcuffed together and even if she had fallen asleep in his arms, twice, it didn't mean he had to be comfortable around her. Maybe even the contrary was more plausible. And she hadn't exactly passed out willingly in his arms either, it was just from overworking herself and then the period cramps. She would rather not have done it as it was extremely embarrassing to fall asleep in a former crush's arms, heck, she didn't even know if he was a former crush as she hadn't really allowed herself to think about him, which only made it worse. They were also handcuffed together, which meant they saw each other all the time, even when they just wanted to be alone. Then to top it all off, they hadn't exactly been on friendly terms before all this and now had just made up.

Thinking more and more over this Sakura wondered how Sasuke wasn't fed up with her and her strange behaviour yet. It was only so much that could be excused by period cramps and exhaustion. She wasn't sure what to do at the moment, didn't know what time it was either, as the basement had no windows and thus no light from outside shone in. Thinking that she should take a glance at her watch she looked down only to be even more surprised. Her hands were enhancing Sasuke's left hand, the one handcuffed to her, which wasn't that weird if one considered their history together and her maybe still lingering feelings for the boy. No what was surprising was that Sasuke was grasping her hands too, or at least the one handcuffed to him as her other arm was already entwined with his by her doing. Or at least she supposed it was her doing, since it didn't really fit Sasuke to do such a thing, he was already lightly gripping her hand, which was unusual enough for him.

Trying to pry Sasuke's hand and hold of her arm off as lightly as possible, Sakura was surprised when he mumbled a soft "no" and snuggled some more into her, head now ending up resting on her shoulder instead of the other way around. Sakura went rigid at this, having not expected such a reaction at all. This was all so weird, too unusual. Never had she actually seen such a side of him. It didn't mean she hadn't secretly hope for it when she was younger, because she had, but over time she had realized that this wasn't a side he would show to her, if he even had such a side at all. So she just ended up sitting there, astounded by it all, watching as the boy slept peacefully on her shoulder.

She looked over his peaceful expression, observing how the stress wrinkles was smothered out in his sleep, showing his face as it really was; a young and beautiful face, with sharp, but good features. Admiring him as he now was, silently marvelling and comparing him to his younger self, pondering over how he'd changed through the years, and still stayed the same. He was a replica of his younger self, only older, more mature and grown-up, almost like an adult. She looked him over, trying to take in the whole view of the person snuggling on her shoulder, although it was difficult since, as mentioned, he was resting on her shoulder. Her eyes darted from side to side, trying to take in each detail on this mysterious yet familiar male, and she thought that if it hadn't been for him having a good grip on both her arms then she would most likely have followed the temptation to ruffle or play with his hair. So maybe it was good that he had her hands in such a grips after all.

Knowing that she now really was staring at him and probably had done so for at least the last five minutes, she quickly averted her glance, not wanting him to wake up and catch her ogling at him or something similar, as often happened in romantic books and such. She already had enough stuff to be embarrassed about so she didn't want even more. Still, after a short while of glancing around the room her eyes were again draw to the raven-haired boy, even without thinking about it she found herself staring at him. What was it with him that still intrigued her? Why was he different from other guys she'd met? Why did she still care after all these years? And what how much did she care? How did she feel about said raven-haired boy?

Well, she knew that she still cared for him that was for sure. She had spent a lot of her life caring about him, chasing after him, so it would make sense that she still cared. Even though she had been ignoring him these past weeks it had been more because of her fear for his judgement and him not being willing to forgive than the fear of him trying to kill her. It played a role too, just not a large one. She had already known then that he was halfway mad, being a medic-nin she had guessed it, and at the same time she too had been foolish, trying to kill him. And now she also knew about the reason behind his madness, the confusion, the sorrow, the loss, and the hurt. The pain of finding out that your loved ones were corrupted and that the one you'd always had looked up to that had suddenly killed your entire clan only did it to protect the city and on an order. All because almost your entire clan was corrupt and also part of the 'villains'. She'd heard and knew about the Uchiha clan's pride, and knew that it must have taken a massive toll for this. How was he even supposed to look at his clan and himself again?

She guessed that she and Naruto would just have to continue to be there for him, helping him along and sharing his burdens. Again, she was guilty of not doing that, having been too afraid to encounter him. What was she supposed to do then? Clearly it was best helping him out, but to do that she needed to know where she herself stood and for that she needed to work out her own feelings. Oh gosh it was so complicated! Especially with a sleeping Uchiha on her shoulder! How was she even supposed to think clearly then? Still, she knew that she had to do that, needed to work out her feelings, if not for him than at least for herself, to know where she stood. But he also deserved to know, or at least that she worked them out so that she could help him in dealing with all that had happened, even if he might not want her to.

Moving a little again, trying to reposition herself again so that she would sit more comfortably, Sakura found it hard doing so. Sasuke was still sleeping, and somewhat unconsciously clinging, on her, whether it was his or hers fault in the first place, and she didn't want to wake him. He too was probably tired, both after the previous nights and the nights before. Oddly enough the way that he clung to her almost seemed as if it was symbolizing something, something like he needed her in his life still, that he wouldn't let her go again. And even though they still had a lot to talk about, a lot that needed to get sorted out, Sakura found a rare tranquillity in this moment, saving it for later and maybe harder times.

**Decided to take the authors note down here instead so that those who don't want to know the reason behind my absence can just skip this. First of all thank you guys so much for reading this story and putting up with my weirdly timed updates and that this chapter unfortunately is shorted than the others. I appreciate each and every favorite, follow and review I've received and I apologize for not being able to answer them yet, I'll do it after I've uploaded this :) Also, thank you guest/Korra for reviewing! I really appreciate it! :) And I also hope that all of you are satisfied for now with this chapter :)**

**Now, the reason behind my lateness: I tried to get this done faster, but school, family and work, along with a nasty writer's block stopped me. Long story short, because of all the stress, both emotional and other, I ended up having a small break down because I overworked myself so much in fear of failing you guys and the other people in my life. I forgot to pay attention to myself so two weeks ago, I just crashed on the couch and didn't get up until hours later, feeling like a zombie the next days. **

**If you guys have tumblr, the link to my tumblr is on my profile, I have decided that I want to take prompts(on tumblr) from fellow fans so don't be afraid to send me a prompt :) There are guidelines on my tumblr. :) I'll try to not take as long on the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5: One cannot simply cook when

Twelve days, that's not that bad, right? Also, this is the longest chapter yet, having passed 7000 words and all. I actually didn't think I'd be able to upload it until next week since I'm currently away, it being easter holidays and all, but suddenly it was done after all so yeah, here it is! Also, I know I messed up last chapter with which hands were handcuffed and such, thank you for pointing it out to those who did it, I think I've found all the places I messed up and corrected them, but don't be afraid to tell me if there's still some places I messed up. Thank you again for your continued support with favorites, follows and reviews for this story, it always warms my heart when I read them and to those that I haven't replied to yet, I'll do it after this chapter is up. One last thing, I have been working on the outlines for another multi chaptered sasusaku-fic, it being a matching soul mate markings AU thingy so if all goes according to plan, I'll start making and uploading chapters for that story too soon. :) Again, prompts can be sent to me on tumblr, link found on my profile here, and I'll also be uploading those fics here. Now, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll be back soon with another chapter :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only this fanfic is mine.

**One cannot simply cook when handcuffed**

As Sakura was starting to feel a bit sticky down a certain place, she remembered that she still didn't know what time it was. It had probably been some time since they'd come down there and she decided to try once more to catch a glimpse of her watch. Still, it felt really awkward having him cling to her, as she had clung to him when she was younger, so now it was like the other way around, and yet it wasn't, which made it just as weird. She bent over a little, careful with his head, and turned her arm at the same time so she could have a look at her watch. It was a quarter passed seven, which mean they'd been down there for about three hours.

Sakura was a little surprised by this, but figured that she shouldn't be that surprised since they'd slept in pretty late that day. Still they would probably be hungry again soon, at least Sasuke would, she had stuffed herself with chocolate some hours prior so she wasn't too hungry at the moment. Figuring that she should wake her sleeping teammate, she reached out to shake his shoulder, but as soon as her hand was clamped over his shoulder he bolted up, dragging her with him. It had been completely by reflex, him bolting up at the touch on his shoulder without thinking about it, ready to pull out his kusanagi and defend himself. However, he noticed that he didn't have his kusanagi with him, and instead there was a large weight on his left arm, as if something was almost hanging from it or something. Looking over he saw Sakura staring surprised up at him, standing on all fours, though her right hand was pulled slightly upwards as it was still handcuffed to his.

"A-ah, Sasuke-kun," Sakura exclaimed surprised. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you like that. It's just that we've been here some hours now and since it's starting to get late I thought we might go and make some dinner?" She smiled lightly, nervously at the boy.

Her eyes widened and she looked weirdly at him when he instead of answering her extended his hand for her to take, not really looking at her. She took his hand nevertheless and allowed him to pull her to her feet. Had she been looking she might have noticed the redness on his neck from his embarrassment of reacting in the way he'd done. "Thank you Sasuke-kun," she mumbled gently.

"Hn, what time is it?" He asked in reply.

"Oh, it's about a quarter passed seven." He nodded slightly absentmindedly at her reply before his eyes widened a fraction as her reply registered. "So you want to go upstairs and make some food then?"

"Aa," he said and picked up the file still lying on the floor right by him. Sasuke then went over to the shelf where they'd found the file hours before and placed it in the same place Sakura had removed it from. "What about your pads?" Sasuke suddenly asked as they walked out of the room.

"Eh what?!" Sakura exclaimed embarrassedly. "W-what about them?"

"Since it's been some hours, don't you have to change it?" Sasuke asked, halfway looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

Was that curiosity that she could make out in his voice? Nah, Sasuke wasn't interested in such things, he had just read about it to "know what he was up against" as he'd said. "Ah, yeah I do, but it's not that much of a problem, is there? I mean I did shower and such earlier today."

"Hn, I know," he replied. "I just wondered."

Sakura resisted the urge to cock her head to the side in wonder. Then as she thought back to the morning again she remembered the sheets she still hadn't done anything with. "Ah, Sasuke-kun, before we make dinner I need to put your sheets in soak with detergent to see if I can get the blood out of it! I'd totally forgotten it and now it's been lying on your bed all day and it's probably ruined the sheet for real now! I'm sorry! I'll get to work on it right after I change the pads okay?"

Sasuke blinked at Sakura's sudden change of mood. The questions was, was it because of her period or just because she was Sakura? That thought actually amused him a little. She sure was a weird girl, though he guessed she'd always been. "Hn, don't worry too much about it."

Don't worry? But they were his clan's bed sheets, at least if they all hadn't been ruined when the rest of the Uchiha compound was, and Sakura knew how important his clan was to him. "I still insist on doing it after I've changed my pads," she replied stubbornly and thought she caught a glimpse of a smirk playing at Sasuke's lips.

"Hn," was his only reply.

It actually wasn't as awkward changing pads now as it had been earlier though Sakura didn't really know why since now that Sasuke knew about it all, it would be more logical for it all to be even more embarrassing. Still, it didn't seem like he found it embarrassing, though with his mask she couldn't know for sure. Maybe it was just as embarrassing for him as he after all had never experienced something like this. Not that she had either and hopefully they wouldn't have to experience again to be handcuffed to someone while either that someone had her period or you had your period.

After that they went to Sasuke's parents room to collect the bed sheets, Sakura being grateful that it wasn't a too large spot and that the duvet and matrass hadn't been dirtied with blood too. Sakura collected the detergent and had Sasuke lead her to the washing room nearby. Grabbing a washing bucket she filled it up with water and detergent and put the sheets in it. She then started scrubbing and tried to wash out as much blood as she could, still without accidentally dipping his handcuffed hand into the bucket. He had crouched down beside her as she sat on the floor by the bucket and he shifted glances from her to the bucket and back again, not really sure where to look or what to do.

Having scrubbed it with her hands for some minutes she let the sheets sink into the bucket again to let it soak and hopefully have that draw out the rest of the blood. "That's it for now I think," Sakura mumbled, mostly to herself. "Hopefully letting it soak for some time and then cleansing it with water will do the trick." She stood, as did he, and he followed after her as she went out of the washing room and back into the living room then the kitchen. As they entered the kitchen Sakura turned around, cheeks slightly flushed and eyes looking anywhere but at him. He raised an eyebrow. "Um Sasuke-kun, just so you know I'm not really that much of a cook, I can some basic stuff but overall I'm not really that good. It's mostly because I'm to preoccupied with my hospital duties all the time and all so yeah…" she trailed off, not really that sure what to say anymore either. Normally she wouldn't have admitted it, at least if he had been Naruto she wouldn't, but this was Sasuke, a boy she still had a crush on and that she had to live with now since they were handcuffed together so she felt like she owed it to him to tell him.

"Hn, I can't cook that well either," he just replied and continued passed her and into the kitchen, forcing her to follow after him with the handcuff.

"Oh, um, okay," she dumbly replied, not sure what to make of his response. "But what shall we make then?"

"How about some regular onigiri with tomatoes and okaka?" He said, walking over to one of the cupboards where he stored rice.

"Yeah that sounds nice," Sakura agreed, inwardly smiling over the tomato part. She guessed he still loved tomatoes as much as he'd done when they were younger. Some things never changed she guessed. "Since we haven't watered the rice already it should probably stay some time in a pot before we proceed though, at least that's what my mother always does."

"Aa, my mother used to do that too," Sasuke said gently, a small smile on his lips as he bent down to collect some rice for the two of them. The problem was just that they were still handcuffed together so when he leant forward she was pulled forward too, almost crashing into him as she'd been focusing too much on his words. The result was her awkwardly falling to the floor right beside him, narrowly avoiding hitting her head in the cupboards. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly at this, looking at her and then at their handcuffed hands before sighing. "This is going to be annoying," he muttered.

"Y-yeah, I guess we have to try and cooperate in this," Sakura said uneasily. She already knew that she wasn't that good in the kitchen, but having to cooperate on making food and on top of that being handcuffed to the person you had to cooperate with? And then the person handcuffed to her had to be Uchiha Sasuke, the one person she felt she already messed up enough around. Well if they wanted some decent food they'd just have to manage it.

On the kitchen counter there was a rice cooker so getting to her feet again, being ever so wary of the handcuffed hand, Sakura reached for the pot to said rice cooker. She pulled it out and down to Sasuke who in turn measured up how much rice they'd need and put it in. He then closed the cupboard again and stood up, walking with Sakura to the sink so she could fill up the pot with water so the rice would get good and sticky. Setting the rice back again into the pot and looking at her watch, Sakura looked up at Sasuke. "Well I should probably change the rest of the sheets on your parents bed since I'm guessing that's where we'll sleep tonight too?"

"No, you're sleeping on the floor," Sasuke deadpanned. He smirked though, giving it all away to a slightly startled Sakura. He was comfortable enough around her now to joke? Refusing to acknowledge the light, fluttery feeling in her stomach at this, Sakura smiled in reply, eyes twinkling without her knowledge though, giving away some of her happiness. Sasuke seemed to search her eyes for a moment, as if it was something he was wondering about, but in the next moment he was already walking out of the kitchen, headed towards his parents bedroom.

Sakura of course quickly followed after him as to not put strain on the handcuffs again, and she didn't exactly want to be towed after him either. Not that she thought he'd do it, but she hurried up to his side nevertheless. As they walked Sakura actually pondered about how they hadn't accidentally touched as much as one might have expected, looking down at their handcuffed hands the space between their hands weren't exactly large. Then she remembered that they'd just been like that for a bit under two days, and there had already been enough awkward moments so she then quickly thought of something else as to not jinx it for even more awkward situations.

"There are new bed sheets at the top of the wardrobes," Sasuke explained as they got into his parents room again. She nodded while walking over to one of the large wardrobes with him. Opening it up they saw bed sheets visible at the top of the wardrobe, just as Sasuke had said.

"Are they all double?" Sakura asked, remembering that it was a double-sized bed they had to dress.

"As far as I know yes," Sasuke replied. To be honest he hadn't really checked, but guessed that they were. Needless to say he didn't usually use his parents bed, just had it dressed in bed sheets and duvets as he normally used his own room. He had been grateful though that he'd kept the bed sheets on so that they didn't have to have any more awkwardness yesterday evening than they already had had. As Sakura was lower than him he reached up and took out a large bed sheet for her, using his free right hand to do so.

"Ah, thanks," Sakura replied as Sasuke handed the sheets to her.

Allowing Sasuke to close the wardrobe again first, Sakura then went over to the bed. Placing the sheet down on the floor she started pulling off the duvets and pillows she had replaced after removing the bed sheet earlier, Sasuke doing the same. Sakura then picked up the bed sheet again, thinking over how she was going to do this with only one free hand.

Sasuke, seeing this, just sighed and said: "Just give me one end of the sheet."

Startled, Sakura looked up first as his outreached hand and that Sasuke himself. "Uh sure," she let him take hold of one of the corners of the sheet and together they applied the end of the bed. 'Okay that wasn't so bad,' Sakura found herself thinking. 'Now for the other end and-' before she finished the thought she found herself laying flat on her stomach on the bed, still gripping onto the end of the bed sheet she had. She blinked a few times before she got what had happened. While thinking she hadn't noticed the duvet lying on the floor and thus she'd stumbled into it and fell onto the bed.

'Well that was elegant, definitely a ninja right there,' she wryly thought, 'and then right in front of Sasuke-kun no less.' She sighed and pushed herself off of the bed again, although with a little too much force so she stumbled backwards. Sasuke, not having noticed what had happened as he was occupied with his part of the bed sheet, was now pulled forward onto the bed. He of course stopped himself, planting his arms into the mattress, pulling Sakura back towards the bed again, and making her face plant into it once more. She groaned into the mattress, this time she'd hit it much harder than the first time, her nose taking the most of the hit for her.

"…Sakura?" Sasuke stared at his former teammate in light confusion and amusement. Just what was that girl doing? It was probably partly his fault though as he had stopped himself so suddenly, but it wasn't his fault he'd been pulled forward in the first place. He sent another glare towards the handcuffs and cursed the hokage and Naruto for ever putting them in such a position. Not that he would admit it, but Sakura face planting into the mattress and groaning had actually been a little cute, at least since it was her, though she was pretty klutzy anyways. Said girl had now gotten up and sat a bit awkwardly on the bed, rubbing her now pink nose. "Sakura, are you okay?" Sasuke was still not sure what had happened.

She looked up suddenly, as if she'd forgotten he was there and quickly brushed it off: "Ah, yeah I'm fine, I just, um, kind of stumbled in some duvets on the floor that's all!" She smiled it away, though he cheeks burning pink revealed that she wasn't exactly happy with telling him. Sasuke lightly shook his head, smirking a little over his klutzy teammate. How she was even the fifth's apprentice was sometimes way beyond his understanding. Then again he had been witness to her unusual power during the war and knew that when it mattered the most, she was reliable and actually not that klutzy as she normally could be. Maybe it was just nervousness? But why? Was she nervous because of him? Yesterday she hadn't been kluzty though, just ignoring him and all, though now that they'd made up, at least more than before, she seemed more like her usual self that he once knew.

"Eh, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura's voice shook him out of his musings as he realized he had stood just staring at the spot the handcuffs had been for over a minute already. "Sasuke-kun, is everything alright?"

"Hn," he grunted, not wanting to admit that he'd zoned out thinking about her. A bit flustered he took hold of the bed sheet once more and tread it on, careful not to use the handcuffed hand too much.

"There, all done!" Sakura exclaimed once they finished dressing the bed, looking at it almost proudly. Sasuke was again amused by how she seemed to be able to find joy in even the smallest of things. They had just applied new sheets on the bed; it wasn't something to be that excited about.

Placing the duvets and pillows back onto the bed, Sakura again cast a glance at her watch. It was still at least ten minutes until they could put the rice cooker on. What were they going to do until then?

"Well since we're finished here we might as well go back to the kitchen and prepare for making the onigiris," Sakura thought out loud.

"Aa, we might as well," Sasuke replied to her thoughts. Nodding, Sakura awkwardly walked to the end of the bed again in parallel with Sasuke since the bed was both too wide and too long for him to not drag her with him if she just stood waiting for him. Sakura still mused that they'd have to get even more used to do things in cooperation, at least now since they'd have to make food together.

"I have a lot of okaka stored in a cupboard so we only need to cut up some tomato and prepare the seaweeds and okaka on a plate," Sasuke said as they entered the kitchen.

"Okay, sounds easy enough. Any special way you cut the tomato or?" Sakura asked.

"Cutting them up in small pieces should be fine," he replied. The tomatoes already stood on the countertop, red and juicy, just as he liked them. As he opened a cupboard over the counter Sakura asked where the chopping boards and knives where. "There should be some chopping boards over by the sink. The knives are in the drawers in the second cupboard from the right."

Looking over to the sink there was indeed some chopping boards there and she walked over to grab one without thinking. Sasuke, who had just gotten hold of a bag of okaka out from the cupboard, was pulled with her towards the sink. Sakura took a chopping board and turned around only to come face to face with a slightly annoyed Sasuke who was still clutching a bag of okaka in his right had.

"Ah, sorry Sasuke-kun," Sakura replied flustered as soon as she realized her mistake.

"Hn, just remember the handcuffs."

"Yeah, sorry," she replied again as she bent leant down to open a drawer in search of a knife. Looking at all the different knives made Sakura a little confused as to which one to use. "Ne Sasuke-kun, what knife to you suppose it's best to use?"

He shrugged, not really paying attention as he was thinking over how much okaka they should use. "Just use one that cuts."

Sakura blinked a few times before she looked up at him. "Uh Sasuke-kun, you know that all knives cut right?"

He looked over at her, realizing what he'd answered to her question. He quickly looked away again, uncomfortable, his ears becoming a little hotter. "Hn, you know what I meant."

Seeing his reaction Sakura couldn't help but giggle. So he did answer without thinking sometimes too, even if he was an Uchiha? She picked herself out a nice, large chopping knife, not at all fit to cut tomatoes, though how should she know? As she stood up Sasuke pulled out some seaweed from another cupboard nearby and some plates from a third cupboard. Placing it all down on the counter Sakura glanced at her watch again.

"You can put on the rice cooker now Sasuke, it has been long enough." He nodded, walking over to the rice cooker just nearby, Sakura extending her arm so he could do so. The rice would take about 15 minutes to cook and then it'd need another 10 minutes to cool down so they'd have enough of time to make the fillings. Figuring that Sakura would probably need both her hands to cut the tomatoes he walked back to her and started preparing the okaka and seaweed pretty close to her, but still with enough distance so they wouldn't brush each other and Sasuke could keep at least some of his personal space intact.

They stood there in silence for some minutes, Sakura awkwardly cutting up the tomato with the large knife and Sasuke arranging okaka and seaweed on two of the three plated he'd pulled forth. It was pretty nice and calming standing there in the kitchen, working side by side on something together. At least it would've been had it not been for the rice cooker suddenly beginning to beep. Sasuke, not thinking it over but reaction on instinct, leapt over to the rice cooker. This caused Sakura to not only be pulled slightly away from her chopping board, but also for her to lose focus and cut wrong.

"Ouch," Sakura winced, staring at the deep cut she now had in one of her fingers. Some tomato juice from the knife also mixed itself in her wound, making it sting more. As soon as Sasuke heard her wincing he had turned around only to stare right at the cut in her wound, immediately putting two and two together. He was by her side the next instance, taking a hold of her hand to inspect it while the rice cooker was still beeping. Sakura was a little surprised over his reaction, almost dropping the knife, but she lied it down on the countertop before anything more could happen.

"Don't worry, it's only a little cut, nothing to worry about," Sakura reassured. "I just need to wash away the tomato juice before I heal it that's all."

Sasuke cast a slightly disbelieving glance up at his former teammate at her calling the cut small, but didn't say anything, instead leading her over to the sink and opening the tap. He put his own finger under first to test the temperature and when he deemed it good enough he used his own hand that was still holding onto her wrist to lead her hand and bleeding finger under the running water. She winced a little, but didn't do anything other than that.

"Um, Sasuke-kun, I appreciate you doing this and all but why are you doing it? I mean it isn't really like you to go so out of you way, at least for a little cut like this." She tried to search his eyes, but he wouldn't meet her stare.

"Hn, it's mostly my fault anyways," he muttered, ears lightly tinted red.

"W-what?"

"If I hadn't moved so fast, on instinct, you wouldn't have cut yourself," he replied a little louder and gruffly. "Also down in the basement you were knocked over because I moved too fast."

Understanding what he was getting at, Sakura smiled softly. "Don't worry about it Sasuke-kun, I can take care of myself you know." She gently removed his grip of her wrist and directed a tiny amount of chakra to her wound to heal it. "See? As good as new," she teased, showing him her finger.

"Tch, annoying," he muttered, though couldn't help the small smirk playing at his lips. They went over to the rice cooker again so Sasuke could check out what was wrong and turn it back on again. It would seem that Sakura hadn't put the pot in deeply enough so the lid hadn't been entirely closed. She smiled somewhat sheepishly as Sasuke rearranged the pot into the rice cooker again, this time putting it deeply enough into as that the lid could close and the cooker could start.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, do you have some paper towels around here? There was some blood that came on the counter, tomatoes and chopping board so I'll have to clean it up before continuing. Opening a cupboard just under where the rice cooker stood he pulled out a kitchen towel for her to use. "Thanks Sasuke-kun."

"Aa."

She dried up the small droplets of blood that had come onto the kitchen counter and chopping board while Sasuke gathered the tomato bits and threw them away. This was because they couldn't be completely sure what parts had and hadn't gotten blood on it and Sakura also put the chopping board in the sink and found another one to use. The knife was washed throughoutly and put in some dish soap water with the chopping board. Sasuke found another knife for Sakura, this one smaller and easier to use and also more suitable for cutting tomatoes.

Still the tomato chunks weren't didn't all have the same size, some larger and some smaller than the others, but they would all be stuffed inside onigiri's so Sakura concluded it wouldn't matter. Looking over she saw that Sasuke has neatly stacked some seaweed on a plate and okaka on another so it would all be ready for onigiri making now, if only the rice would get done soon.

"How many onigiri's do you think this'll last for?" Sakura asked, not really knowing what to say.

"I don't know. Why?" Sasuke glanced over at her, leaning against the counter.

"I'm just thinking if it's enough food or if we have to make some more that's all."

"Hn, considering we haven't eaten for a while and you'll probably be more hungry, maybe we should make some more," Sasuke concluded.

"What?" Sakura cast a confused glance over at him. "The last time I checked it was you and Naruto who ate the most, not me."

"The scroll said one eat more when one is on the period," Sasuke reasoned, looking away from Sakura now.

Sakura's eyes widened at his reference before she blushed. "Not everything in the file has to apply to every woman you know, it's different from person to person and all, and also from day to day. You can't really generalize it like that." Why were they even having this conversation now? Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw Sasuke nod slightly, ears faintly glowing pink, which probably meant that he was as uncomfortable talking about this as she was.

"Well maybe we'll just make some tempura on the side then," Sakura chimed in so as to try and get the conversation out of the awkward spot it now was in.

"Aa, tempura with vegetables sounds good enough."

"Okay, tempura vegetables it is then!" Sakura smiled, going over to the fridge with Sasuke right behind her. Opening up the fridge she found some carrots and broccoli that they could use, handing them over to Sasuke as she pulled out some eggs. "Now, if I remember correctly we also need some ice water, baking soda, rice flour and canola oil, along with a mixing bowl and a deep frying pan of course."

Sasuke nodded, placing the vegetables on the counter beside him as Sakura closed the fridge and put the eggs on the counter too. "There's baking soda, rice flour and oil in the cupboard I got the okaka from, and then there's frying pans in the drawers directly under the stove and mixing bowls in the drawers to the left. Oil is by the stove and ice cubes in the freezer."

"Okay," Sakura nodded, processing the information. "We should probably take out the ice cubes first so we can add them to cold water and turn it into ice water. Then we can take the other things after that. We'll need about a cup of ice water I think," Sakura continued, trying to remember back to the times her mother had tried to teach her how to cook. The freezer was just below the fridge, making the ice cubes easily accessible. Sakura brought out a tray full of ice cubes, breaking out and placing about four of them into the large mixing bowl Sasuke pulled out from a drawer just afterwards. They moved over to the sink, or rather Sakura walking over, Sasuke just trailing behind because of the handcuffs. She added some water into the mixing bowl and placed it on the counter again. "Now while that stays there to get nice and cold, let's find the other ingredients. You know you got them all, right?" She turned to Sasuke, suddenly unsure if he actually had all they needed or not.

Even though Sasuke didn't spend much time cooking, he had developed a habit of buying the necessarily things a household would need, like baking soda, flour and so on. If he remembered correctly, it was a habit he developed from his mother who was always prepared to make a feast for her family whenever needed. "Aa," he just grunted affirmatively in reply, opening up the cupboard from earlier. He pulled out baking soda and rice flour, as well as some seasoning if that should be desirable.

"Okay, that's great then," Sakura smiled. "We should probably start heating up the oil too then to prepare it for frying, it should have a pretty high temperature if I'm not mistaken. Also, we'll probably need a whisk or mixer to mix the batter and make it properly." Opening up another drawer Sasuke pulled out a hand mixer along with two whisks for it. "Perfect!" Sakura gave a thumbs-up. Maybe she could really do this, make a good meal and all without messing up. Getting excited for it she opened a drawer just beneath the stove to find, as Sasuke had said, frying pans. She pulled out a large, deep one, perfect for making tempura.

Placing it on the stove she quickly reached out to grab the oil and heat it up, forgetting for a moment that she was handcuffed. Thus, Sasuke was pulled forward to, almost stumbling as to avoid crashing into his own stove. He cast an annoyed glance at her. "Ah, so sorry Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed. "I guess I got a little carried away." He rolled his eyes but couldn't help but like the fact that her eyes lit up in a special way when she got excited and- wait, what was he even thinking about? He shook his head, wondering where a thought like that had come from.

"There, all set," the stove was turned on, the frying pan filled with oil on top of one of the cooking plates. "Now that just needs to heat up and-" she was interrupted with the beeping noise of the rice cooker, this time signalizing that the rice was finished. "Ah, it's finished! Okay then I think we need to get the rice out and cool it down some before we begin making the onigiris otherwise we'll just burn our fingers. I think that's how mom used to do it," Sakura talked while walking over to the rice cooker and Sasuke trailing behind her, not entirely sure if she talked to him or just in general, chose to stay silent.

Sakura pulled out the pot with rice from the rice cooker, setting it aside to cool down. "Okay, so while that cools down we need to work on the batter," Sakura continued to mumble, hoping that she was doing it all right and that she wouldn't mess up as she sometimes did. She knew that she wasn't that good of a cook, but she still could make somewhat decent meals, at least according to her. Still, having to make food while her crush was handcuffed to her, watching what she did and him too making food was making her very nervous.

With her left hand Sakura leant over and grabbed a hold of the mixing bowl with the ice water, pulling it over to where the baking soda and rice flour stood. "Um, you don't happen to know how much flour and baking soda we should use, do you?" Sakura suddenly remembered that she really had no idea how much of each she should use.

"Hn, no idea," Sasuke replied, he neither knowing the amounts necessarily.

"I guess we just have to try then," Sakura stared dubiously at the rice flour before she got and idea. "Hey Sasuke-kun, since that archive of yours has so much different information it must surely have some cooking booklets too, right?"

Sasuke looked at her questioning for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "You can't really go down there now can you?"

"What'd you mean?" Sakura stared at him confused.

"Sakura, we're handcuffed, remember?" He held up his hand, bringing hers up too.

"Yeah, so?" Sakura still didn't get what he was hinting to.

Really? Wasn't she supposed to be smart and all? Well maybe the painkillers in her system were affecting her IQ and judgement too. "So, with the oil ready to boil any minute at the stove we can't leave it because it might just take fire while we're away. You remember what happened that one time Naruto tried it right?" Sakura winced, remembering that one time so long ago when Naruto had decided he wanted to make deep fried noodles, but then he'd been distracted by his wanting to go to Ichiraku's. His kitchen had been sat ablaze and if it hadn't been for a stranger passing by, alerting the fire men Naruto's apartment would've burned to the ground.

"Yeah I remember," Sakura mumbled, looking away because she'd ever thought of leaving the hot oil alone. "I guess we'll just have to try and see what works after all then. Though I think my mom said that the batter should be like a pancake batter, not too thick but not too thin either."

She opened the bag containing rice flour, pouring about half a cup of the flour into the mixing bowl and putting the hand mixer in it too to mix. "Maybe you want to mix while I pour it in, I think that's best anyways because of the handcuffs."

"Hn, sure," he took a hold of the hand mixer. He hadn't used it before though so he accidentally put it on the highest frequency, the flour getting all over them and the counter. Sasuke quickly turned it off again, staring confused at the hand mixer. Sakura blinked a few times, her entire face covered in flour only to see Sasuke with the same dumbstruck reaction and she couldn't help but laugh. If it hadn't been for the flour Sasuke's now burning read cheeks would be visible. His ears though were still visible and they too burned a light red in embarrassment. "Sakura, stop laughing," he grumbled, glaring at the girl.

It didn't help though, it only made the girl laugh harder as it looked quite comical with his glare in a completely flour covered face. "Sakura, stop it," he threatened; feeling even more embarrassed and irritated with his teammate.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry Sasuke-kun," she managed between giggles. "You just look so adorably comical with a flour covered face and a glare that totally don't fit in, haha!" Sasuke continued to glare at the girl, but seeing her after so many years laughing heartfelt around him again made it hard for him to stay mad at her for long. Rolling his eyes he lightly shook his head and smirked a little over the situation. She too was still covered in flour, whether she realized it or not.

After another minute Sakura calmed down again, still giggling a little over it all, and Sasuke pulled out a kitchen towel for them both to dry off the flour. "Okay, so what you did wrong was obviously turning the hand mixer on too high too quickly. See here?" She pointed to a scale beside the switch, showing Sasuke the numbers from 1 to 3 to indicate the different frequencies of the mixer. "You probably set it on 3 from the start, but at the speed that thing whisked I think that having it on 1 is more than enough." She smiled gently at him now, eyes still shining with laughter.

Why did she have to have such mesmerizing eyes? He hadn't really thought that much about it before, but her eyes were one of the things he liked the most about Sakura, they always conveyed so much feeling and life. Realizing that he'd been staring her in the eyes a little too long he quickly took hold of the mixer, brushing it off and pretending his stare had been nothing. He could feel Sakura's confused glance at him, but he didn't show any indication of noticing it so she gave up, adding flour into the mix as he whisked it with the hand mixer. They added about ¾ cup rice flour, Sakura deeming it enough as the oil was also beginning to boil and they'd have to start frying the vegetables soon.

Not knowing how much baking soda she should put in, but knowing not to use too much Sakura carefully added some baking soda, still adding more than enough for the batter. "You know Sasuke-kun, since we should try to do this faster, I think I'll cut the vegetables while you add them to the oil since it's already ready and all."

"Hn, sure," Sasuke shrugged.

"Do you also think we should add some seasoning to the vegetables too or?"

"Hn, it probably won't hurt." He walked over to the sink to put the whisks in, Sakura coming with him to grab another chopping board. Knowing now where the knives were she pulled out another small knife and placed it on the counter.

"Oh, that's right!" Sakura suddenly exclaimed. "You think you start cutting the vegetables up instead? We'll have to wash them first and I think that'll be a good way to do it." Sakura dragged Sasuke with her over to get the vegetables before walking back and handling him the knife. "Then I can take over when I finish washing them and you can add them to the batter and oil after that. Just remember to season them before you put them in the batter." Without waiting for a reply Sakura got to work, quickly, but effectively washing the vegetables, searching them over with her keep medical eyes for any dirt and damage before handing them over to Sasuke.

The washing, cutting and seasoning went pretty fast when they cooperated like that, them only getting some minor annoyances because of the handcuffs, and before long Sakura was cutting and seasoning while Sasuke already had dipped many pieces of vegetable in the batter and put them into the boiling oil. Because of too much baking soda the batter grew much larger than it normally would, but they did turn out good after being fried in the oil for several minutes and then getting to rest on some paper covered plates that Sasuke had arranged.

"Then if you finish up there I'll start on the onigiri's then," Sakura said as she put away the knife and seasoning, reaching over to grab the pot with rice and the other ingredients to it. Sasuke's hand stopped her though.

"Sakura, have you actually made onigiri's before?"

"I've watched my mom do it several times, and I did try once, not that it turned out that well," she muttered the last thing to herself slightly flustered. "But still I'm sure I can do it." She looked back up at him with a determined gaze. This had him smirking a little, letting go of her hand so she could proceed the cooking. 'Making onigiri's can't be that hard, right?' Sakura thought to herself. She used a tablespoon to take out rice, knowing that the size of the tablespoon was a pretty good measurement for the onigiri's. She put some lumps with rice on a row, ready to try and make several onigiri's at the same time to try and save some time.

As soon as she started to work with the rice lumps though she remembered why her mother had always had a small bowl of salt water on the side. A lot of the rice got stuck on her fingers instead when she tried to make them into a ball. Looking over to her left to Sasuke she saw that he would still be finished with the tempura so she guessed she'd just have to wait a little to grab a bowl and fill it up with water and salt. She proceeded to try and make the onigiri's without the use of saltwater, but she just messed up.

"Sakura, what are you trying to do?" Sasuke, finished with frying the tempura, having turned of the stove and removed the oil, had looked over to Sakura only to see her hands covered in rice.

"Ah, well I forgot that I needed some saltwater on the side to work with the rice, but since you were busy I figured I'd just try to make the rice balls anyways, but it didn't work..." Sakura stared awkwardly down at her hands, feeling flustered.

Sasuke found himself yet again amused by this weird girl who wouldn't give up, but just kept on messing up anyways. He allowed himself a light chuckle as he walked over to the sink, pulling Sakura with him. He pulled out a small bowl of glass, added salt to it and turned on the sink to fill it up with water. "Here," he said, a ghost of a genuine smile gracing his lips as he handed the glass bowl to her.

"Ah, thank you Sasuke-kun," Sakura accepted, feeling slightly flustered by his smile. She then went back to the chopping board again and continued to work on the onigiri's, casting small glances in his direction ever so often. Sasuke noticed this that her cheeks had reddened a bit because of his smile and he smirked because it felt good to know that he still had some of the same power over her, that she still seemed to care for him in the same as she had done years before. It gave him hope that they really could work it all out between them and as he went up to her side to help her in adding the fillings to the slightly weirdly shaped onigiri's, he let the smile yet again grace his lips, this time letting it stay there.


End file.
